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HAMILTON RO¥M GAMBLE, 



GOVERNOR OF MISSOURI, ^ov s. sTs- 



ST. LOUIS: 

GEORGE KNAPP & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 

1864. 



E s n 



Staff ©ffiters 



Brigadier-General John B. Gray, Adjutant-General. 
Colonel Alton E. Easton, Inspector-General. 

" E. Anson More, Quartermaster-General. 

" Franklin D. Oallender, Chief of Ordnance. 

" Hamilton Ga^ible, A. D. C. & Assistant Insijector-General. 

" William M. Smallwood, A. D. C. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Melville Sawyer, Deputy Paymaster-General. 

Major C. C. Bailey, A. D. C. & ISIilitary Secretary. 

Captain Alexander Lowry, 27 Infantry Mo. Vols. & A. A. A. General. 



Colonel John T. Hodgen, Surgeon-General. 

" C. P. E. Johnson, Paymaster-General. 

" James O. Broadhead, Judge-Advocate-Gencral. 

" Thomas T. Gantt, A. D. C. 

" Austin A. Kino, A. D. C. 

" Daniel G. Taylor, A. D. C. 

" "Williajm S. Mosely, A. D. C. 

" William T. Mason, A. D. C. 

" James H. Birch, Jr., A. D. C. 

" John Flournoy, A. D. C. 

" Cyrus B. Burnham, A. D. C. 

" Michael P. Small, A. D. C. 



emorial bn the S>Mi 



At a meeting of the Staff of the late Hamilton II, 
Gamble, Governor of Missouri and Commander-in-Chief of 
the vState forces, it was deemed fitting and proper that the 
proceedings of the various bodies in the State, expressive 
of the sorrow felt at the death of the Chief Executive, 
should be compiled and put into an appropriate form for 
preservation. 

As an evidence of affection, and as a slight token of 
admiration and love for their departed Commander and 
friend, the Staff venture to present this volume to his family, 
in the hope that it will be accepted as an offering purely 
fvom the heai't. 

A brief biographj- of Gov. Gamble was given by his 
Pastor, who paid a just tribute to his private vu'tues and 
those ennobling traits of character which distinguished him 
as a Christian gentleman. 

The Bar of St. Louis, in suitable resolutions, and in 
speeches from some of its most eminent members, assigned 
to their deceased friend and brother a position amongst the 
first jurists of the Nation. 

But it now remains for us, who were intimately associated 
with him during the dark daj's of our countrj-, and who saw 
him, day after day, as he stood at his official post amid the 
1 



6 

storm of civil strife which swept over our distracted State, 
to speak of those virtues to which the cares and duties of 
the hour gave development and scope of exercise. 

To understand properly, and appreciate fully, the acts of 
the man, we must see the motives by which he was guided, 
and none can be supposed to know these so well as the 
members of his military family, called into such close 
intimacy with him. 

Governor Gamble entered upon the discharge of his 
duties, as Chief Executive of Missouri, at a time totally 
unparalleled in the history of the State or of the Nation. 
He was not Governor when the storm first threatened 
lilissouri ; but, in a quiet, peaceful hamlet of Pennsylvania, 
was watching the intellectual growth of his children, and 
occupying his time in such pursuits as befitted his tastes 
and habits of life. We venture little in saying that had he 
been Chief Executive of the State when the low mutterings 
of Secession were first heard within her borders, he would 
have made such preparations as to have averted almost, if 
not entirely, the deluge of destruction whose angry billows 
for a time well nigh overwhelmed her. 

But, unfortunately, the helm of the State was in other 
hands ; and, as danger drew near, wicked minds seized the 
occasion and hurried his beloved Missouri into the vortex of 
rebellion, bringing the din of discord and civil war to the 
doors of our most peaceful citizens. 

Governor Gamble never believed it possible that Missouri 
would secede; and, when spoken to on the subject, was 
wont to say : " No matter what other slave States may do, 
there is no danger of Missouri." From the outset he 
grasped the whole subject, and predicted fatal results 



should an attempt be made to join hands with those States 
which appeared determined to array themselves against the 
Nation. Schemes of innovation and revolution were so 
foreign to his mind, that, for some time after most people 
had settled down in the belief that civil war was inevitable, 
he looked for something to happen which would save the 
Nation from the threatening dreadful ordeal. When, at 
last, the painful truth was forced upon him, he bade fare- 
well, like a true patriot, to the life of ease and happiness he 
then enjoyed, and hastened home to aid his beloved vState in 
the time of her sorest need. 

"We remember well the day of his arrival in St. Louis — 
for it was the first on Avhich armed men were seen in her 
streets in behalf of the Union — a force of regular troops 
having been stationed to guard the Sub-Treasury of the 
United States. All was then confusion and tumult; men's 
faces grew pale with fear; uneasiness and anxiety were 
manifest on every countenance. A Union Meeting had 
been called at the Court-house for the following day, and, 
by common consent. Judge Gamble was requested to 
address the multitude. In less than twenty-four hours from 
the time he set foot on the soil of Missouri, he proclaimed 
to thousands of his fellow-citizens, his loyalty and devotion 
to the country, and, urging them to stand firm in their 
allegiance to the Nation, bade them not be led into the folly 
and crime of rebellion. He pointed out their duty in 
language like the following, quoted from a newspaper 
report of his address on that occasion : 

" Judge Gamble said that, for several years, he had not participated ia 
the political affairs of the country. No questions of sufficient importance 
had ever come up, to call him forth from the quiet life he had chosen ; hut 
at this fearful crisis of the country's history, when our dearest rights and 
liherties are endangered, when the blessed TJnIon under which we have 



enjoyed so much and prospered so greatly is threatened, he could not 
remain silent. He was at this meeting at his country's call, and was 
willing for either sacrifice or labor. The history of St. Louis and of 
Missouri was familiar to him as his own history. He came here when St. 
Louis was a village of only 4,000 souls; now she has nearly 175,000 
inhabitants. At that time Missouri had a population of 60,000; at the 
present time she has nearly 1,300,000. This great increase is attributable 
only to the position which Missouri occupied in the Union. If our State 
had stood out alone she could never have been developed, and her vast 
domain would not have been peopled with representatives from every 
nation, as it is. Those who made our State their home came here, because 
as American citizens they could enjoy those rights and immunities which 
other countries did not offer them. They came where they could be 
protected in all their rights, and thus it is that this great State has 
grown up and prospered. It is all in consequence of the Union. It is an 
instance, said the speaker, of unexampled prosperity. And look at the 
great Confederacy of States. Did the sun ever shine on a happier or 
more prosperous nation than the United States six months ago ? "We 
were in entire harmony, and projecting great measures for improvement 
and internal progress. This great nation, with its various climates and 
soils, with its hills and vales, prairies and savannahs, is calculated to 
benefit every class of our people. Why, then, in the name of Heaven — 
in the name of everything that is sacred and holy— shall the Union be 
broken up ? "Why shall brother be arrayed against brother, and State 
against State? "Why shall war rage? "Why should we engage in conflict 
with those with whom we have lived as brothers for nearly a century? 
Why, like children, shall we break this Union to pieces and squander it? 
Some boys are foolish enough to break their watches just to see what is 
inside ; our people, so bent on the destruction of this Government, are 
acting like these foolish boys. There can be no Union without the 
Constitution, and those who would destroy the one must destroy the other. 
But there is no necessity for injuring either. If any man's rights have 
been violated, they can be redressed in the Union and under the Constitu- 
tion. The rights of no State have been violated so as to cause a dissolution 
of this Confederacy. If the laws have not in all cases been executed, 
then it is the fault of those whose business it is to execute them. If any 
States should place obstructions in the way of the execution of the laws, 
then this evil should be redressed in the Union. It can not be remedied 
out of the Union. What is there to justify the breaking up of this 
Government, or the tearing down of the only fabric of constitutional 
liberty ever erected? What is to be gained? [A voice — Nothing.] 
Nothing under heaven can be gained. Then let us stand in the Union 
and by it, under all circumstances. Let us stand where our fathers stood. 
Do not let us rush on precipitately to ruin, but stand calmly aud firmly, 
and await the issue. 

" Going out of the Union would be the most ruinous thing Missouri 
could do. The evils can hardly be calculated. Our property in this State 



9 



would be in danger of destruction. The people who most rashly get into 
fights are generally the first to get whipped — but those who coolly and 
deliberately go into a fight come out the victors . If it were not for the 
fact that there has existed in the minds of Southern jjeople, for thirty 
years, a determination to set up a separate government, there never would 
have been an instance on record of such unbecoming haste. Shall the 
great State of Missouri be drawn into the vortex and ruined, because one 
State or half a dozen States rush out? The speaker said he was a 
Missourian, and was for Missouri; and if other States do wrong, he did 
not wish to have Mssouri do wrong too. If Virginia goes crazy, he would 
not have IVIissouri go crazy with her. For himself, he did not feel like 
going crazy. Missouri is bound, out of self-respect, to take her own 
position. This idea of boyish sympathy and boyish chivalry ought not to 
be tolerated. 

"Judge GaiiIble, in closing, said there was no more melancholy fact to 
him than that there should exist a necessity for this meeting. But as it 
was a necessity, he was gratified beyond measure tbat the people had so 
heartily responded. 

" Let not the Goddess of Liberty look on our constellation of stars and 
witness its disseveration; but let her bring harmony, and feel, as she 
breathes her inspiration over our sons, that the glorious firmament of 
our country will shine as brightly resplendent as ever." 

Soou after Judge Gamble's return, an election was held 
for members of a State Convention, which had been called 
to determine the relations of the State to the Federal 
Government. He was unanimously chosen to a seat in this 
bod}-; and, when the Convention met, he was appointed 
chairman of the Committee on Federal Eelations. By his 
strenuous labors in the committee room, and wise counsels 
in debate, he aided vastly in determining the vote of the 
Convention against secession, and in placing the State, as 
was then thought, upon a basis of honorable peace and quiet. 

He stood firmly in favor of constitutional liberty, and 
was a bulwark against all schemes of disunion. But, 
instead of accepting the position assigned the State by the 
body to whom the^^ had submitted the question, those 
holding power continued to agitate and threaten until at 
length open war was commenced against the United States. 



10 

Very soon afterwards, Governor Jackson, and nearly all 
the State Officers, fled from the capital, and left Missouri 
withont a Chief Executive. In this condition of affairs, the 
Convention again met to perform a most important duty — 
no less a one than that of providing a government for the 
State, which would administer affairs in the interests of the 
Union and hold Missouri loyal and true. Instinctively, 
every eye turned to Hamilton E. Gamble, as the fittest 
man in the State to fill the office of Provisional Governor, 
and by his patriotism, intellect, and force of character, so to 
manage public matters and form piiblic sentiment as to 
secure to us the perpetuation of our dearest rights and 
privileges. With great reluctance, and only on condition 
that he should soon be relieved by a popular election, did he 
accept the responsible and laborious duties of the office. 
The feelings he entertained, and the purposes he wished to 
accomplish, are well set forth in a speech which he made in 
the Convention on that occasion. 

' ' Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : 

"I feel greatly oppressed by the circumstances under whict I now stand 
before you. After a life spent in labor, I had hoped that I ■would be 
permitted to pass its evening in retirement. I have never coveted jiublic 
office, never desired pubUc station. I have been content to discharge my 
duties as a iirivate citizen, and I hoped such would be my lot during the 
remainder of my life. Circumstances seemed to make it a duty for me 
when this Convention was first elected, to agree to serve as one uf its 
members, because the condition of the State and country at large seemed 
to demand that every citizen of the State should throw aside his own 
preferences, choice, and even his own scheme of life, if necessary, in order 
to serve the country. In accordance with what I regarded as the obliga- 
tion every citizen owes to the community of which he is a member, I 
allowed myself to be chosen as a member of this body. I came here and 
endeavored, so far as I could, to serve the best interests of the State, and 
you now have chosen to put upon me a still more onerous and still more 
distasteful duty — a duty from which I shrink. Nothing but the manner 
in which it has been pressed uj)on me, ever would have induced me to 



11 

yield my personal objections to it. The members of this body, in the 
present distracted state of the country, have come to me since it was 
clearly manifested that the oflfice of Provisional Governor would be made, 
and have urged that I should allow myself to fill that position. Nor was 
it the action of any political party — men of all parties have united in it. 
Those who have belonged to the parties that have all departed in the midst 
of the present difficulties and trials of the country, have united in making 
this application to me. They have represented that my long residence in 
the State and the familiar acquaintance of the i)eople with me, would 
insure a higher degree of confidence, and better secure the interests, the 
peace and order in the community, than would be consequent on the selec- 
tion of any other person. I resisted. God knows, there is nothing now 
that I would not give, within the limits of anything reasonable, in order to 
escape being appointed. But when it was said to me, by those represent- 
ing the people of the State, that I could contribute, by assuming this 
public trust, to secure the peace of Missouri, in which I have lived for 
more than forty years ; that I might secure the peace of those who are the 
children of fathers with whom I was intimate, I thought it my duty to 
serve. 

" It is, therefore, an entire yielding up. It is the yielding of all my own 
schemes, of all my own individual wishes and purposes, when I undertake 
to assume this office. I could give you, gentlemen of the Convention, no 
better idea of my devotion, to what I believe to be the interest of the State, 
than I do now, if you could only understand the reluctance with which I 
accept the election with which you were pleased to honor me. But yet, 
gentlemen, with all that has been said of the good result to be accom- 
plished by me, it is utterly impossible that any one man can pacify the 
troubled waters of the State ; that any one man can still the commotion 
now running thoughout our borders. No man can do it. You, as you go 
forth to mingle with your fellow-citizens throughout the land, look back 
upon this election as an experiment that is about to be tried to endeavor 
to pacify this community, and restore peace and harmony to the State. It 
is an experiment by those whose interests are with your interests, and 
who are bound to do aU in their power to effect this pacification of the 
State. It may be, we have not adopted the best plan or the best mode of 
securing the object which we desire; but we have done what seemed to us, 
in our maturest judgment, best calculated to accomplish it. And now, 
gentlemen, when you go forth to mingle with your fellow-citizens, it must 
depend upon you what shall be the result of this experiment. If you 
desire the peace of the State — if you earnestly desire it, then give this 
experiment a fair trial — give it a full opportunity of developing all its 
powers of restoring peace. I ask of you — I have a right to ask of every 
member of this Convention — that he and I should so act together, as will 
redound to the common good of our State. I feel I have a right to ask 
that, when you have by your voice placed me in such a position, you shall 
unite with me your efforts and voice, instead of endeavoring to prevent 
the result we all desire. Unite all your eff'orts so that the good which is 



12 

desired may be accomplished ; aud with the blessings of that Providence 
which rules over all affairs, public and private, we may accomplish this 
end for which we have labored, and which shall cause all the inhabitants 
of the State to rejoice. 

" Gentlemen of the Convention, what is it that we are now threatened 
vtith ? We apprehend that we may soon be in that condition of anarchy 
in which a man, when he goes to bed with his family at night, does not 
know whether he shall ever rise again, or whether his house shall remain 
intact until morning. That is the kind of danger ; not merely a war 
between different divisions of the State, but a war between neighbors, so 
that when a man meets those with whom he has associated from child- 
hood, he begins to feel that they are his enemies. We must avoid that. It 
is terrible. The scenes of the French revolution may be enacted in every 
quarter of our State, if we do not succeed in avoiding that kind of war. 
We can do it if we are in earnest, and endeavor with all our power. So 
far as I am concerned, I assure you that it shall be the very highest object 
— the sole aim of every official act of mine — to make sure that the people 
of the State of Missouri can worship their God together, each feeling that 
the man who sits in the same pew with him, because he differs with him 
on political questions, is not his enemy ; that they may attend the same 
communion and go to the same Heaven. I wish for every citizen of the 
State of jSlissouri, that when he meets his fellow-man confidence in him 
may be restored, and confidence in the whole society restored, aud that 
there shall be conversations upon other subjects than those of blood and 
slaughter ; that there shall be something better than this endeavor to 
encourage hostility between persons who entertain different political 
opinions, and something more and better than a desire to produce injury 
to those who may differ from them. 

" Gentlemen, if you will unite with me, and carry home this purpose to 
carry it out faithfully, much can be accomplished, much good can be done; 
and I am persuaded that each one of you will feel that it is his duty, his 
individual duty ; for, in this case, it is the duty of every American citizen 
to do all he can for the welfare of the State. I have made no elaborate 
preiiarations for an address to you on this occasion, but I have come now 
to express to you my earnest desire that we shall be found co-operating 
for that same common good in which each one of us is equally interested ; 
that, although differing as to modes and schemes, we shall be found united 
in the great work of pacification." 

But fe^v can understand or appreciate the difficulties aud 
embarrassments which then attached to the newly created 
office of Provisional Governor. Civil w^ar was raging 
through the land, and in Missouri it had become a social 
war, the hostile arm of neighbor being raised against neigh- 
bor. In many cases, father was arrayed against son, and 



13 

bi'other met brother in mortal combat. The wail of the 
widow and the cry of the orphan went up to Heaven from 
every county in the State. 

lilissouri had neither an army nor arms for an army, and 
much less the money necessary for the equipment and sub- 
sistence of a force in the field. Many of her citizens had 
already enrolled themselves as enemies of the General Gov- 
ernment, and those remaining true were unable to protect 
themselves against the rebel horde sent to overawe them, 
and compel abject obedience to the mandates of the rulers 
of the revolted States. 

The civil affairs of the State were also in the most 
deplorable condition. By an act of the Convention all in 
office were required to subscribe to the oath of allegiance, 
or forfeit their offices within a specified time. The vast 
majority of the office-holders throughout the State declined 
to comply with this requirement of the law, and it became 
the duty of the Provisional Governor to appoint others to 
fill their places. 

The whole civil machinery Avas to be put in motion, and 
a State force raised sufficiently large to keep it in motion 
after the Federal Government should have withdrawn its 
armies from our borders. Courts of justice stood adjourned 
from necessity, and Court-houses were turned into bar- 
racks ; stores were closed ; the din of workshops, mills, and 
factories ceased ; and the farmer, in idleness, doubt, and 
dismay, saw his un tilled fields grow rank with weeds. 

In the midst of this confusion and disorder, Judge Gamble 

took his seat in the Gubernatorial chair. Kever before was 

a Governor called upon to perform so much with such 

slender means at his command. The difficulties, when fully 

2 



14 

estimated, seemed almost insurmountable; and yet relief 
must be obtained speedily, or the State would soon become 
little less than a desolate wilderness. 

With spirit undaunted, and firm reliance in the belief of 
the ultimate triumph of right and justice, he applied his 
energies to accomplish the Herculean task. He at once 
surveyed the whole field, and determined the course which 
he should pursue, in order to accomplish the ends to be 
attained — the pacification of the State, and her earliest pos- 
sible restoration, from the chaotic condition in which she 
then was, to something like her former condition of peace 
and prosperity. 

War had so fully possessed the minds of the people, that 
they no longer thought of civil pursuits, and were fast 
drifting into utter demoralization and destruction. This 
fatal current must be arrested, and the energies of the 
people directed into another channel, or we would soon be 
beyond redemption. 

As the civil law had become inoperative, and the rights of 
citi;2ens were no longer protected by it. Gov. Gamble deter- 
mined to organize, and put in the field, such a number of 
loyal soldiers as would maintain its supremacy and compel 
restless, lawless men to respect the rights of others. 

For these purposes a call was made for a force of 42,000 
men, to be used as State troops and stationed in such 
localities as were disaffected, and where the civil authority 
needed to be upheld by the aid of the military arm. But 
such was the condition of affairs, at this period, that only 
6,000 men responded to the call. 

This small number seems at first startling, but it must be 
remembered that the loyal men in the State had neither 



15 

arms nor organization ; and hardly any protection could be 
given while the organization was being made. The enemy, 
bold and daring at that time, menaced every part of the 
State. 

In vain did the Governor solicit citizens of influence and 
position, and known loyalty, to accept appointments in the 
military department ; none sought them, and few could be 
induced to hold them. Offices, the pay of which was lucra- 
tive, and which were solicited by great numbers after the 
experiment of the Provisional Government had proved a 
success, at that time went begging. 

Very many privately expressed their good will, and sin- 
cerely hoped- that the Governor might be sustained ; but 
they had not the temerity to become targets for secession 
bullets. This Avas the most critical period of Governor 
Gamble's administration. 

In addition to these embarrassments, it was also found 
that the militia law of the State, made in time of peace, 
was fit only for peaceful times, and wholly inadequate to 
the existing emergenc}'. Nor was it possible to maintain 
an army on account of the bankrupt condition of the State 
Treasury. 

Thus situated, the Governor issued a call for the State 
Convention to assemble, that provision might be made to 
remedy, as far as possible, the evils and inconveniences 
under which the neAvly-inaugurated Government was labor- 
ing. In the meantime he proceeded to Washington City to 
lay the case before the head of the Nation, and get such 
relief as could be afforded by the President to aid the State 
in putting down the rebellion within her borders. 



16 

By repeated interviews with the President and others in 
authority, at the national Capital, he fully impressed all 
with his genuine loj'alty and unselfish patriotism, and won 
the unbounded confidence and respect of the Chief Officers 
of the IsTation. Such reliance did they place in him that 
everything wdiich he requested was done; and large 
amounts of money Avere furnished to be expended as in his 
judgment seemed best for the interests of Missouri. 

From this time, the affairs of the State began to assume 
a more healthy tone, and loyalty and returning prosperity 
steadily advanced. 

Then there were but two classes, friends or enemies of 
the Government; and each man who raised his voice in 
support of the Union, and by every means in his power 
aided in preserving it, was by all declared to be loyal. 
Then there was no time to make nice distinctions, the 
question who should remain in the State being in the 
balance. Then the Government needed the services of all 
its friends, and politicians found no fault with any one who 
would prepare the field for their future advantage. Those 
dogmas of the present day, strange tests of loyalty, which 
have recently been scattered abroad through blind passion 
and prejudice, in the earlier days of our struggle were 
unknown. 

The loyal men of the State being put in a condition of 
defence, the crisis soon passed away, and the attention of 
our citizens was directed to their usual pursuits; new rela- 
tions and duties of life sprang up, and the Governor was 
called to consider more congenial subjects than carnage and 
bloodshed. 



This time had been looked forward to with deep anxiety 
and longing ; for in it was seen the beginning of the end. 
Peace once restored to Missouri; civil law supreme; men 
returned to their workshops; their oflSceS; their counting- 
rooms, and their fields, Gov. Gamble's mission would be 
accomplished; and he could then lay aside the cares of 
office, leaving no duty unperformed. 

During the trying scenes which marked the fearful out- 
burst of the rebellion, men of all ranks and feelings sought 
the advice and counsel of Gov. Gamble. Firm of purpose, 
he bent his powerful energies to the woik which he had 
assumed ; ever hopeful, neither too much dejected by disas- 
ter nor elated by success, with calm self-reliance and deter- 
mination, he carried out his plans, and the loyal men of 
the State looked to him for deliverance and for their future 
permanent safety. 

And when the war-clouds began to roll away, and the 
sunshine of peace to shed again its blessed influence upon 
our State, no one hailed the auspicious sign with more fer- 
vent gratitude than the Governor. Worn by anxiety and 
toil; his health suffering from close application, his family 
and pi'ivate affairs needing attention, he rejoiced at the pros- 
pect of being once more free to perform those duties of love 
pertaining to his noble character, as husband, father, friend. 
Public safety would soon warrant his retirement, and he 
looked forward with hope to the arrival of the day which 
should bring him the coveted happiness. 

No sooner, however, had the people an opportunity to 
turn their eyes from the bloody scenes of strife on our 
battle-fields; than in the discussion of political affairs the 
most violent passions were aroused. The unhappy condi- 



18 

tion of Avar seemed to have pervaded all conditions of life, 
and the dignity of controversy was lost in passionate fierce- 
ness and malicious detraction. So violent was party rancor 
at one timC; that it was feared, in striking down the cause 
of our strife, the shock might destroy our whole political 
fabric. 

For years many persons had believed slavery to be a 
curse to Missouri; and as soon as popular attention was 
turned to the subject, advantage was taken of the occasion 
to influence the public mind, with the design of suddenly 
removing the system from the State. 

The emancipation of the slaves was something Governor 
GrAMBLE had long anticipated, and even desired ; as a Mtb- 
sourian, he believed the resources of the State would be 
better developed, and its future greatness and prosperity 
made more certain by free labor. He cheerfully set aboiit 
the accomplishment of his desire. Determined, however, 
that the interests of all concerned should be properly con- 
sidered, and provided for ; guided in all his actions by pure 
love of justice, he sought to effect the proposed important 
change in a legal and constitutional manner, and steadily 
opposed all revolutionary measures which looked neither to 
the rights of the master, nor to the interests of the slave. 
A grave responsibility rested upon him. His actions were 
marked by a dignified consistency ; an elevated tone distin- 
guished all his public utterances ; and as Ave are wafted 
along the current of time, his wisdom, prudence, and 
correctness of judgment, are manifested more and more. 

It is not our purpose, nor is it essential, to enter into all 
the details of Gov. Gamble's administration. The records 
of his acts are in the archives of our State ; and when the 



19 

passion, prejudice, and fanaticism, of this unfortunate 
struggle shall have passed away, a careful revicAv of his life 
and conduct, during a greater change — in a military, po- 
litical, and social point of view — than was ever known in 
any State in the same length of time, will leave a name to 
be honored for virtue and respected for wisdom. 

His appointment as Provisional Governor was regarded 
by many as an experiment, and great apprehension was 
felt lest it should fail. For himself, he had no doubt of its 
success in so far as saving Missouri to the Union was 
concerned. 

P'or two years and six months, he discharged the duties 
of his office. During that period the fearful story of re- 
bellion was recorded. The thundering of the guns, hurling 
mutual death and destruction, might have been heard at 
Dug Spring, Wilson's Creek, Lexington, Fredericktown, 
Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, Lone Jack, Springfield, 
Hartsville, and many other less important but fiercelj' 
contested fields in every part of Missouri, Avhere her gallant 
sons poured forth their generous blood without stint, to 
defend and confirm the righteous and noble cause to which 
they had devoted themselves. All honor to the brave who 
fell ! Their memory will be sacred forever. Their children 
and their children's children shall remain and arise to bless 
them. And now, their Chief is gone — has passed away 
into "the valley of the shadow of death." Eipe Avith 
years and robed in honors, even while still on the path of 
duty, he has been summoned, by the God of his fathers, to 
the land of unchangeable peace. But, though Death's un- 
sparing hand has snatched him away from us, his name 
shall be deathless. 



20 

From the day Gov. Gamble entered upon the discharge 
of his official duties until his eyelids closed in death, the 
entire poAvers of his body and mind were devoted to the 
welfare and interests of the State ; and, Avhen he died, the 
whole machinery of the civil government was in perfect 
order, the laws were administered by loyal men, and there 
was a loyal military force sufficient to execute them. 

The death of Gov. Gamble took from IVIissouri her 
greatest jurist and statesman, as well as one of her earliest 
and most devoted friends. His name is associated with her 
in every relation, for he has occupied her liighest seats of 
honor, and dignified them all. 

He was a man noble and generous in all his impulses — 
firm as a rock in the discharge of duty — governed in all 
his actions strictly by principle, not policy — kind and 
courteous in his manners — pure in his thoughts, and affec- 
tionate in his disposition. Although seeminglj' stern, he 
was easily approached ; he possessed a fine fund of mirth, 
and was inclined to take a hopeful view of everything. 

Among the last things he said, just before his death, was 
that it had been his mile in office to do right himself, and 
keep others from doing wrong ; and any one who met him, 
must have felt that his conduct would have to square with 
this rule or receive no countenance from him. A more 
conscientious man in the discharge of duty never lived, and 
he, in turn, demanded of his subordinates a careful attention 
to the interests confided to them. 

Gov. Gamble's mind was of such an elevated character as 
forbade his ever stooping to petty intrigue himself, or 
tolerating it in others. In politics, as in everything else, 



21 

he at once took high grounds, and viewed every matter as 
to its good or evil bearing upon the country at large — not 
how it would be viewed by any particular set of men. 

He .was governed by no party ties or prejudices. In the 
great contest in Missouri, he recognized but two classes of 
men — one for, and the other against, the Government. In 
his appointments to office, it was never asked to what party 
the applicant belonged; but, was he a true friend to the 
Government, and fully fitted for the position ? 

Often, when spoken to on this subject, he would say : " I 
was not called to office by a party, nor will I engage in 
building up or tearing down a party." Partisanship he 
entirely ignored, regarding this struggle for national exist- 
ence as of more importance than all else. Nothing grieved 
him more than to see professed friends of the Government 
so eager for place and power as to waste their energies in 
political strife, when the country needed their united 
services to accomplish one result. 

Such was our lamented fiiend — in public life, the pure, 
unsullied patriot — in his profession, super-eminent, by com- 
mon admission, among a Bar of comj)etitors of no mean 
talents and acquirements — in social intercourse, the enter- 
taining companion and kindest of friends — in the Church, 
the devoted and unassuming Christian — in the domestic 
circle, at his own fireside, the loving husband and best of 
fathers. His merits were such as need not the garnishing 
of rhetoric. His best and brightest eulogy is the memory 
of him inscribed on the hearts of all who knew him. 



ITcglsIniitre ^rottcbmgs* 



ExECtTTrv'E Mansion, 
Jefferson City, February 1, 18G4. 

Gentlemen of the Senate, 

and House of Representatives : 

It becomes my painful duty to announce to 3'ou the death 
of the Executive of this State. Governor Gamble departed 
this life yesterday, at fifteen minutes before twelve o'clock, 
at his residence in the city of St. Louis. 

When called to the position he lately filled so honorably 
and well; he had arrived at an age when peace and quiet 
were necessarj- to his health and comfort, but unfortunately 
the condition of the State did not permit him to consult 
his taste or inclination. AYe were in the midst of a terrible 
revolution, and the Governor elect of Missouri had adhered 
to the rebellion. Under these circumstances, it became the 
duty of the late State Convention to remove him from 
office, and to place in his stead one who would faithfully 
perform all the duties devolving upon him by a state of 
civil war. 

In looking around for the man best calculated for the 
position, all eyes tiirned to Hamilton E. Gamble. His 
great purity of character, his talents, and his devotion to 
the whole country, pointed him out as peculiarly fitted for 
the ciisis. With great reluctance, almost repugnance, he 
yielded to the demands of the Convention, and became 



23 

Governor of Missouri. Surrounded by difficulties, such as 

never before beset a Governor of this State, it is not strange 

that his administration of affairs should have failed to 

satisf}' all. His official career is now a part of history, and 

it is confidently believed that, when the animosities of the 

present shall have yielded to a cooler judgment, all will 

admit that he dischai-ged his difficult and arduous duties 

with an eye single to the best intci-ests of the country. 

I am aware of the embarrassments I must encounter in 

succeeding so good a man and officer, and I solicit your 

kind support Avhenever I shall deserve it. My chief and 

constant efforts shall be to co-operate with the Federal 

Government in its efforts to suppress the existing rebellion. 

In doing this, I shall not be solicitous to find fault with the 

President, with Congress, or with our Generals in the field. 

I shall rather defer my objections, to whatever I may 

consider blameworthy in the acts of either, to a more 

propitious period, and trust to a cordial support of the 

Government of the United States to contribute something 

to the restoration of peace. In this coui'se I shall expect to 

receive the approbation of yourselves and the people of 

Missouri. 

WILLAKD P. HALL, 

Governor of Missouri. 



IN THE SENATE, 

Mr. Harrison moved the following concurrent resolution : 

JResolved, That the General Assembly will attend the 
funeral in a body, and adjourn to Thursday next. 
Adopted. 
Senate adjourned to 2 o'clock. 



24 

HOUSE. — Afternoon Session. 

The resolutions in relation to the death of Governor 
Gamble were reported from the Senate and taken up. 

Mr. Vaixe moved to amend by striking out Thursday, 
and inserting Friday as the day for re-assembling. 

Messrs. Garner and Allin objected, on the ground that 
the Pacific Eailroad Company would run a special train, so 
that the members could return Wednesday night, and 
resume business on Thursday. 

Mr. Valle then withdrew his motion. 

Mr. Curry renewed it. 

Messrs. Curry and Tuttle thought it would be impos- 
sible to return so as to resume business on Friday. 

The vote was taken, and the motion to strike out Thurs- 
day and insert Friday was carried. 

Mr. EoBiNSON then offered an additional resolution for 
the appointment of a Committee on the part of the House, 
to make the appropriate arrangements necessarj' to enable 
members to attend the funeral in a body, and that all ex- 
penses incurred be paid out of the contingent fund of the 
General Assembly. 

The Speaker appointed Messrs. Dyer, Wingate, Eobin- 
son, Burris, and Howland, as the Committee on the part of 
the House. 

Mr. Barr offered the following resolutions, which were 
adopted : 

Mesolved, That as a mark of the profound grief we feel 
at the loss the State has sustained in the death of her 
Governor, and the sincere respect we entertain for his 
memor}' as a statesman and a patriot, the national flag be 
suspended at half-mast over the dome of the Capitol during 
the remainder of the sitting of this General Assembly. 

Hesolved, That the Door-keeper be instructed to carry 
into effect the foregoing resolution. 

The House then adjourned till Friday. 



SENATE. — Afternoon Session. 

Message from the House, announcing that the House had 
passed the concurrent resolutions of the Senate, with an 
amendment adjourning to Friday, and an additional reso- 
lution that the necessary expenses shall be paid out of the 
contingent fund of the General Assembly. 

The amendments of the House were all agreed to, when 
the Senate adjourned. 

The following are the resolutions adopted by both 
Houses : 

"Whereas, It has been communicated to the Senate, that 
his Excellency, the Governor of this State, departed this 
life, at his residence, in the city of St. Louis, on the 31st 
day of January, 1864 ; Therefore, be it 

Mesolved, By the Senate of the State of Missouri, the 
House of Eepresentatives concurring therein : 

1st. That the communication of the Acting Governor of 
this State, to the Senate, announcing the demise of his 
Excellency Hamilton E. Gamble, Governor of Missouri, 
has occasioned the deepest sadness in this bod}-; that in 
this dispensation of the Divine Providence we feel that the 
people of the State have been deprived of a most able, 
efficient, and faithful Executive ; society, one of its brightest 
oi'naments; and the domestic circle, of a devoted husband, 
parent, and brother. 

2d. That this General Assembly will testify its high 
respect for the virtues of the deceased, by attending his 
funeral at St. Louis, and that the State Officers of this 
State be requested to unite with the General Assembly in 
this testimonial ; and that when the General Assembly ad- 
journs, it shall be until Friday next, at 10 o'clock a. m. 

3d. That the Chamber of the Senate and the Hall of 
Repi^esentatives be draped in mourning, and that the mem- 
bers of the General Assembly wear the usual badge of 
mourning for thirty days. 



26 

The following remarks were made in the Senate, hy Hon. 
Jno. Doniphan, of Platte, upon the death of Governor 
Gamble : 

"Mr. President and /Senators: A dispatch has just been 
handed me, announcing the melancholy news of the decease 
of Governor Gamble, which has been so feelingly trans- 
mitted to this body in the communication of the Hon. 
TVillard P. Hall. This sad event demands more than a 
passing notice. Death is at all times terrible, but, ah ! how 
much more so, when he enters the highest portals of the 
land, and claims the Chief Executive of a great State, 
clothed with the revered purple, and delegated as the 
representative of her sovereignty. 

'^^ Death levels all things in his march,' and kings are his 
toys, and the great of earth his sport ; yet he of whom we 
speak shrank not from his embrace, but, panoplied in a 
Christian's hope, sank sweetly to rest from life's carking 
cares and the toils of State. Born soon after the great 
struggle for our national existence had terminated, he seem- 
ed to have imbibed the teachings of our patriot fathers, and 
to have been imbued with the stern honesty of the Eevolu- 
tionar^' heroes ; and in his life he M^as trulj- a bright exem- 
plar of the teachings that he doubtless heard in boj^hood, 
from the lips of those iron men who suffered with Wash- 
ington at Brandywine, or charged with Morgan at the 
Cowpens. 

" About his twentieth year he emigrated to Howard 
county, in this State, and commenced the practice of law. 
Missouri then was in her pupilage as a Territory, with but 
a small and sparsely settled population — subject to Indian 
alarms — and in which he discharged his duty as a citizen 
and a soldier for her protection. Soon after her admission 
as a State, he was appointed Circuit Attorney in the county 
of St. Louis, and spent some years upon the, then, frontier, 
in arduous professional dutj^, upon a Circuit extending from 
the Osage to the State line ; and was present, and helped, as 



27 

an officer of the Court, to organize the Courts in Cole, 
Saline, Lafayette and Jackson, on the south side of the 
Missouri river, and Boone, Chariton, Ray and Clay, on the 
north side — thus early familiarizing himself with the pros- 
pective richness and extent of the State, upon whose 
theatre he continued so long to tread as a prominent actor. 
His removal to St. Louis connected him with the most 
weighty and lucrative practice of the State, and there, for 
many years, he stood in the forum, the peer of such men as 
Benton, the Bartons, Bates, Geyer, Campbell, and many 
others, who have been ornaments to the Bar of the city of 
St. Louis and the State. Called to the Supreme Bench of 
the State by a unanimity almost unknown with us here, he, 
for some years, by his strict attention to duty, industry, 
and clear elucidation of the complex cases adjudicated by 
that Court within the last ten years, added new and addi- 
tional honor to the judicial ermine. 

"From this position he was admonished to retire by 
failing health, and he again sought the quiet of a loved 
home, and the shadier walks of private life, with no seem- 
ing ambition but to act well his part in the lowlier sphere 
to which his sense of duty had assigned him. But when 
the war-cloud arose, and his country was imperilled by the 
mutterings of that storm that has since passed over her 
with such fell and angry power, he came forth to guide by 
his counsels, and direct by the matured wisdom of age, the 
fate of that State he loved so well. Nobly has he steered 
her amid the lashing waves of treason and treacherj-, until 
he has at last met the dread summons with the harness on. 
' Yielding, as the cedar to the axe's edge,' he supported, as 
long as the feeble body would, the great weight of State. 
His mind never failed to remember its wonted duties until 
the shadow}^ hand had conquered his body. "We can truth- 
fully say — Farewell ! ' good and faithful servant.' " 



Central ©rbers. 



Headquarters State of INIissouri, 
Adjutant General's Office, 

St. Louis, February 2d, 18G4. 

General Orders, 
No. 3. 



} 



His Excellency Hamilton E. GamblE; late Governor of 
Missouri, and Commander-in-Chief, having departed this 
life, the undersigned, in accordance with the Constitution 
and Laws of the State, in such case made and provided, 
hereby assumes the duties of Commander-in-Chief of the 
Militia of this State. 

WILLARD P. HALL, 
Goi\ of Missoitri and Commander-in-Chief, 



Headquarters Dep't of the JIissouri, 
St. Louis, Mo., February 2d, 1864. 

General Orders, ) 
No. 20. I 

I. It becomes the melancholy duty of the Majoi'-General 
commanding to announce officially to the command the 
decease of his Excellency Hamilton E. Gamble, late Gov- 
ernor of the vState of Missouri, and Commander-in-Chief of 
the State forces, Avho expired at his residence, in this city, 
at 12 o'clock M., on the 31st ultimo. 



29 

The eminent and patriotic services of the illustrious 
deceased; at the commencement of and during the rebellion, 
have placed his name high on the roll of honor. 

His name will go down to posterity a bright sampler of 
the purest private and public virtues ; as that of a states- 
man, a Christian gentleman, and, above all, a patriot whose 
motives will never be impugned. 

To the family of the deceased, the Major-General com- 
manding tenders his sincere sympathy in their great 
aflfl-ietion. 

As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, all 
officers of the Department Staff, and all officers of Missouri 
troops serving within the limits of this Department, will 
wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days. 

II. Lieutenant-Colonel Cole, Chief of Artillery of this 
Department, will cause a battery of artillery to be stationed 
at Lucas Square, to fire every ten minutes during the 
funeral services at the church, and minute guns while the 
procession is moving from the church to the grave. 

III. Post commanders are hereby authorized to give 
leave of absence for two days to such of the officers and 
men of Missouri troops under their command as may desire 
to attend the funeral ceremonies, and can be spared from 
their duties for that period. 

By command of Major-Gen eral Eosecranz. 

0. D. GREENE, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 



General Orders, 
No. 6. 



St. Louis, Mo., February 3, 1864. 



His Excellency Hamilton E. Gamble, Governor of the 
State of Missouri, died at his residence in the city of St. 
Louis, on Sunday, the 31st ultimo, at twelve o'clock m. 
4 



30 

This day, sorrov/ing thousauds of his fellow-citizens, amid 
funeral draperies, the tolling of bells, and the booming of 
cannon, have followed his remains to Bellefontaine. 

The late lamented Commander-in-Chief of the Missouri 
State troops sleeps in a Christian Patriot's grave. A 
gi*eat man, ripe in years and in honors, has fallen. 

I. The G-eneral commanding, in announcing this bereave- 
ment to the officers and men of this command, can express 
for them no better wish than that they each strive to 
emulate the virtues of the illustrious deceased ; that they 
be as devoted and true to their God and their country as 
was he ; thus securing to themselves in this life the respect 
and admiration of their countrymen, and a citizenship in 
that "better country, that is, an heavenly," when the 
struggle and strife of each are over. 

II. On the day following the receipt of this order at the 
Posts of Pilot Knob, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid, 
thirteen minute guns, commencing at noon, will bo fired, as 
a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, and the 
national flag will bo displayed at half staff, from that hour 
until sunset. 

By order of Brigadier-General Clinton B. Fisk. 

G. A. HOLLO WAY, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 



Headquaetees State of ilissouRi, 
Adjutakt Gekerajl's Office, 

St. Louis, February 2, 18G4. 

At a meeting of the members of the Staff of his Excel- 
lency the late Governor H. R. Gamble, called and held this 
day, for the purpose of giving expression to the feelings 
occasioned by the decease of their Chief, which occurred 
upon the Slst ultimo, the following was adopted : 



•31 

God, in his Providence, having removed from earthly 
labor onr beloved Commander-in-Chief, Governor H. R. 
Gamble, we, as members of his Staff, feel constrained to 
utter the sentiments of deep devotion we bore him when 
living, the sorrow of our hearts at his death, and the lively 
remembrance we bear his virtues as a citizen and friend, 
and as Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of the 
State of Missouri. 

I. As members of his Staff, admitted to a greater or less 
extent to his confidence, and associated with him in the 
immediate discharge of his high trust as Commander-in- 
Chief, we ever found him kind and courteous, always 
animated by the loftiest patriotism. His whole official 
conduct was marked by that cool, calm courage which is 
only to be found in men perfectly upright in heart, and 
truly great in mind. 

II. We loved him in every relation in which we knew 
him. His death has overwhelmed us with grief, and we 
mourn his loss as of a father and Mend, a patriotic citizen, 
an enlightened statesman, and incorruptible Chief Execu- 
tive officer. 

in. We shall ever cherish his memory with the liveliest 
gratitude. Tendering to his bereaved family and friends 
our sincere condolence, we, as members of his military 
family, mingle our grief with theirs. 

JOHN B. GRAY, 
Adjutant General. 



NOTICE. 



Hbadqitahters State of Missouri, 
Adjutant General's Office, 

St. Louis, February 2, 1864. 



All officers of Missouri troops who may be in this city on 
the 3d inst., cither on detached service, or casually present. 



32 

are hereby invited to attend the funeral ceremonies of his 
Excellency the late Governor H. E. Gamble, which will be 
held in the Second Presbyterian Church; corner of Fifth 
and Walnut streets, to-morrow ("Wednesday), the 3d inst., 
at 10 o'clock A. M. 

Officers are requested to attend, if convenient, in uniform, 
and mounted. 

JOHN B. GRAY, 
Adjutant General of Missouri. 



General CotrET JIabtial, 
St. Louis, Mo., February 1, 1864. 

The Court met pursuant to adjournment. Colonel Bar- 
stow presiding. 

Colonel E. C. Catherwood announced to the Court the 
death of Hamilton E. Gamble, late Provisional Governor 
of the State of Missouri, and moved that suitable resolu- 
tions be prepared for publication. 

The Court thereupon took a recess for thirty minutes. 
Upon the coming in of the Court, the following resolutions 
were presented and adopted : 

The death of the Governor of the State of Missouri 
having been announced by a member of the Court j there- 
fore, 

Hesolved, That this Court receive with deep regret the 
sad tidings of the death of his Excellency Hamilton E. 
Gamble, Governor of the State of Missouri. 

Besolved, That during a career of peculiar hardship as 
the Governor of Missouri, amid the \T.olent scenes of the 
last few years, we have ever recognized the spotless purity 
and integrity of his private and official character, his un- 
flinching loyalty to the great cause of his country, and his 
success in bringing civil order out of that chaos into which 
.traitors had precipitated the State of Missouri. 



33 

JBesolvecIy That we are deeply sensible of the bereavenient 
thus sustained by the family of the deceased, and tender to 
them our heartfelt condolence on this occasion. 

Hesolved, That copies of these resolutions be furnished 
by the Judge Advocate to the family of the deceased, and to 
the daily papers of this city. 

Hesolved, That, in respect to the memory of the deceased, 

this Court now stand adjourned until to-morrow morning 

at 10 o'clock, 

WM. A. BARSTOW, Col. Zd ms. Cav., 

President. 
Allen Blacker, Maj. 1st Neb. Cav., 

, Judge Advocate. 



Upon the opening of the General Court Martial and Mili- 
tary Commission, of which Lieutenant-Colonel John Y. 
Clopper, Merrill's Horse, is President, February 1, 1864, 
the following preamble and resolutions were adopted : 

Whereas, It has pleased Divine Providence to remove 
from his sphere of usefulness, by the hand of death. Gov- 
ernor H. E. Gamble, Chief Executive of the State of Mis- 
souri; therefore, 

Besolued, That by his death the State has lost an able, a 
wise, and conscientious officer; the country, a brave and 
uncompromising defender of the right ; and the community, 
an honest and upright citizen. 

Resolved, That in these troublous times of civil war, and 
in the midst of conflicting opinions and clashing views, he 
has so conducted himself and the affairs of State as to excite 
the admiration, merit and respect of all loyal men. 

Besolved, That these resolutions be published in the 
newspapers of St. Louis, and that, in token of our respect 
for the memory of the deceased, this Court adjourn until 
to-morrow morning at 10^ o'clock. 

ALBERT G. CLARKE, Lieut. 2d Col. Cav., 
Judge Advocate. 



of % Bt l^onis §ar. 



In response to the published call, a large number of the 
members of the St. Louis Bar met at half-past nine o'clock 
yesterday morning, in the Circuit Court room, to take 
action relative to the death of their fellow-member, his 
Excellency Governor Gamble. 

Hon. John F. Darby was appointed Chairman, and Calvin 
F. Burnes, Esq., Secretary of the meeting. 

The Chairman announced to the meeting that they had 
met to pay the last tribute of respect to Hamilton Eowan 
Gamble, late Governor of the State, so long, prominently 
and proudly connected with the St. Louis Bar -, for a great 
many years one of the most eminent and successful practi- 
tioners in the profession, and afterwards a Judge of the 
Supreme Court, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
the State of Missouri. 

Mr. Darby said he had first become acquainted with the 
deceased in December, 1826; he had then just returned 
from Kentucky, whither ho had gone to study law; and he 
came home to commence practice, and had to wait the meet- 
ing of the Supreme Court to obtain his license. At that 
time no one could obtain a license to practise in Missouri 
except from the Supreme Court in Term time, and the term 
did not commence until the month of May, 1827, — he 
(Mr. D.) therefore went into the office of Judge Gamble, to 
look over the statutes, and familiarize and make himself 
acquainted with the laws of the State, so as to prepare 



85 

himself more fully for practice when the Supreme Court 
should meet, and he would be able to get his license. He 
had spent several mouths in Mr. Gamble's office, and was 
enabled to speak of his goodness of heart and kind feelings 
from a friendly intercourse of more than thirty-seven years. 

Mr. Gamble was no ordinary man, but the possessor of a 
fine and cultivated mind, and endowed with rare powers of 
intellect, as was fully evidenced by the great power and 
distinguished ability with which he had conducted causes in 
the 'Supreme Court of the United States, invoh-ing heavy 
amounts and largo interests. In that arena ho had to 
contend with legal ability, learning, and eloquence, of the 
highest order, from all parts of the United States. 

Mr. Darby said, when he was admitted to the bar in May, 
1827, there were but thirty-six members ahead of him on 
the roll of attorneys ; amongst them were Henry ShefiFey 
Geyer, Luke Edward Lawless, Thomas Hart Benton, David 
Barton, Edward Bates, Hamilton Rowan Gamble, George 
F. Strother, Isaac C. McGirk, Beverly Allen, Gustavus 
Adolphus Bird, and others. These, it was well known, 
were men of ability, of learning and distinction, many of 
them having filled positions of honor with marked ability, 
and exercised a controlling and powerful influence in the 
Government, amongst the men and times in which they 
lived. "With such men as these Mr. Gamble had practised, 
and fought the battle of life in intellectual combats, in the 
highest courts of the State and nation. Of the Bar at that 
date he was now the only survivor present, the solo other 
one alive, since the death of Mr. Gamble, being the venera- 
ble Judge Bates, now absent at "Washington, discharging 
the duties of Attorney-General of the United States. 

Hamilton Rowan Gamble was born in "Winchester, Yir- 
ginia, as he had been informed, about the year 1798. He 
came to St. Louis about the year 1818 or 1819, and his 
brother, Archibald Gamble, being at that time Clerk of the 
St. Louis Circuit Court and ex-officio recorder of deeds, 
Hamilton became a deputy clerk, and for a while wi-ote in 



36 

the clerk's office. Mr. Gamble afterwards removed to the 
town of Franklin, (now called Old Franklin,) Howard 
county, Missouri, where he successfully practised for sev- 
eral years. When Frederick Bates was elected Governor of 
the State of Missouri, in 1824, he appointed Mr. Gamble Sec- 
retary of State, the seat of government being then located 
at St. Charles, where Mr. Gamble took up his residence, 
and assumed the duties of his office. In the year following, 
1825, after the death of Governor Bates, Mr. Gamble re- 
moved to St. Louis, and resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession, which he pursued until he was elected a Judge of 
the Supreme Court of Missouri. 

While practising law he acquired special distinction by 
his powerful and successful defence of Judge Carr, when the 
latter was impeached before the Legislature in the winter 
of 1832 and 1833. In this defence Gamble was associated 
with Geyer, and made an effort which attracted great 
attention and general admiration, winning the reputation 
which has followed him ever since. 

Mr. Gamble never sought office. Once when he was 
absent from the State, he was elected a member of the 
State Legislature from St. Louis county, and served one 
session as a member of the House of Eepresentatives. 

For three or four years preceding the year 1861, he had 
resigned the office of Supreme Judge of the State, and had 
taken up a residence in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where 
he resided with his family till about the beginning of 1861, 
when he was elected a member of the Convention, and was 
subsequently appointed by that body Provisional Governor 
of the State. In all of these offices he was attentive and 
laborious. 

In the year 1827 he made a visit to South Carolina, on 
which occasion I accompanied him as far as Kentucky, 
when he married Miss Coulter, of South Carolina, a sister 
of Mrs. Bates, and of General John D. Coulter of this city. 
Mrs. Gamble survives. He had made the acquaintance of 
Miss Coulter in this State, her father having been a resident 



37 

once of St. Charles county; Missouri. The Chairman closed 
by dwelling upon the fact that Governor Gamble possessed 
in a high degree the aflfection of his intimate friends, among 
whom he had spent his life. 

Judge Breckinridge said, that the elevated character of 
the deceased, and the estimation in which he was held, led 
the members of the Bar to desire that the tribute of respect 
to be paid 'him by their action should be of the highest 
kind, and wanting in nothing that could contribute to its 
effect. Yet the fact of his death had scarcely become 
known till announced in the morning papers, and hence 
many members of the Bar, who would desire to be present, 
probably had not heard of it. Judge Breckinridge there- 
fore moved that a Committee of seven members be aj)- 
pointed by the Chair, to draft resolutions appropriately 
expressive of the sense of this meeting, and that when this 
meeting adjourns, it adjourn to Wednesday, at nine o'clock, 
then to receive the Committee's report, and take such 
action as may be thought proper. 

Judge Krum seconded the motion. 

Mr. Whittelsey suggested that, as the funeral was fixed 
for ten o'clock Wednesday forenoon, the time proposed was 
not early enough. 

Mr. G rover proposed three p. m. Tuesday-, which was 
accepted; but Messrs. Shepley and Krum objected, saying 
the funeral would be deferred to eleven o'clock a. m. The 
time first named was adhered to. 

The motion of Mr. Breckinridge was agreed to, and the 
Chairman appointed the following Committee on Eesolu- 
tions : Judge Samuel M. Breckinridge, Samuel T. Glover, 
Judge Wilson Primm, Judge Alexander Hamilton, Judge 
John M. Krum, Thos. T. Gantt, and Alexander J. P. 
Garesche. 

On motion of Judge Primm, the meeting then adjourned. 

The ensuing meeting will thus be at nine o'clock a. m., 
Wednesday, in the Circuit Court room. 
5 



88 



■Wednesday, February 3, 18G4. 

At precisely half-past nine, the meeting was called to 
order by the Chairman, John F. Darby, Esq., who said : 

" Gentlemen of the Bar: This is an adjourned meeting of 
the members of the St. Louis Bar, to receive the report of 
the Committee appointed to prepare appropriate resolutions 
on the occasion of the death of his Excellency Hamilton 
E. Gamble, late Governor of Missouri. I see the members 
of the Committee are present, and the meeting will now 
come to order." 

Judge Breckinridge, Chairman of the Committee on 
Eesolutions, then read the following preamble and resolu- 
tions, which were unanimously adopted : 

"It hath pleased Almighty God to call from the earth 
Hamilton E. Gamble, one of the oldest and most distin- 
guished members of the Bar of the State of Missouri. An 
event involving a loss so great to the Bar, this community, 
and the State, demands of his professional brethren an 
expression, in some api^ropriate and enduring form, of their 
estimate of his character, and their deep sorrow at his 
death. The best years and the greatest labors of his life 
were devoted to the practice of law. 

" As a jurist, he was profoundly learned. His fine intel- 
lect, characterized by strength, solidity, breadth, and clear- 
ness, rather than by those lighter qualities which attract 
more readily the public attention, secured for him the 
largest success, and the best rewards of the profession. 
He was patient in investigation, wise in counsel, of ad- 
mirable sagacity in the actual conduct of causes, earnest in 
advocating interests committed to him, faithful to all trusts. 
His long and distinguished career as a lawyer placed him 
at the head of his profession, and was crowned by success- 
ful service in the highest judicial office in the State. 

" The same high qualities which insured his success at the 
Bar, commanded for him as a Judge the respect and con- 



39 

fidence of the profession aud the commimity, added to his 
jiist fame, and contributed largely to the legal learning of 
the country; especially in those departments peculiar to the 
jurisprudence of this State. 

"In all the relations and duties of private life, he ^^-as 
exemplary, singularly free from reproach ; reserved in his 
general intercourse, but strong in his affections, and faith- 
ful in his friendships ; of unquestioned integrity ; an earnest 
and consistent Christian. 

" Called with rare unanimity, at a period of unexampled 
trial, to the highest councils of the State, his lofty charac- 
ter, commanding ability, and wide experience, gave him at 
once controlling influence ; and when, with like unanimity, 
assigned to the Chief Magistracy of Missouri, under cir- 
cumstances which required the most sagacious, prudent, 
and courageous statesmanship, his earnest patriotism, un- 
selfish devotion, and faithful efforts, to discharge aright the 
arduous duties thus imposed on him w^ere worthy of all 
praise, and are entitled to the more distinct and grateful 
recognition, since there can be no doubt that his death was 
caused by the hazards and labors of his office. The injury, 
from the effects of which he never recovered, was received 
in the course of a journey undertaken for the service of the 
State. From this injury he might have recovered if he 
had given to the care of his health the time and attention 
which were engrossed by the exigencies of that service. 
He saw the danger; but, placing the performance of duty 
above personal safety, he labored on until he died at his 
post as heroically as the soldier who falls beneath his shield 
in battle. 

"He was indeed a wise, faithful, just, and good man ; his 
memory is woi'thy of all honor, and his services to the 
Commonwealth and the country should be held in lasting 
remembrance. 

" In view, therefore, of his virtues as a man, his pure and 
unstained life as a Christian citizen, his great distinction 
and eminent mei'it as a lawyer and a judge, his exalted 



40 

position; devoted patriotism, and distinguished services as 
a public servant : 

'■'■Jje it resolved by the members of the Bar of St. Louis., 

"That; in the death of Hamilton E. Gamble, they, in 
common with this community and the people of the State, 
have sustained a great affliction. 

" That, to preserve an enduring memorial of his character 
and services, and of their profound sorrow at his death, 
the Chairman of this meeting be requested to appoint a 
suitable number of the members of the Bar, who shall 
present to the various National and State Courts, meeting 
in this city, the foregoing j^reamble and these resolutions, 
with the request that they may be spread upon their 
i-ecords. 

^' That the earnest sympathies of the Bar of St. Louis be 
tendered to the family of the deceased, in this, their irre- 
parable loss, and that the Chairman be requested to trans- 
mit to them a copy of the proceedings of this meeting. 

"That, in testimony of their respect for the memory of 
the deceased, the members of the Bar of this city will wear 
crape upon the left arm for the space of thirty daj's. 

" That this meeting will attend, in a body, the funeral of 
the deceased." 



SPEECH OF T. T. GANTT, ESQ. 

The custom, in conformity with which we are as- 
sembled to-day, is of long standing, and has much that is 
good, together with something that is defective. It is 
proper that there should be a feeling of brotherhood and 
kindness among the members of such a profession as that 
of the laAV. The study of jurisprudence, the administra- 
tion of the law, are ennobling, elevating pursuits ; those 
who engage in them should be drawn together by ties 
closer than those of our common humanity ; and the asso- 



41 

elation of lawyers with one another ouglit to be marked by 
a peculiar courtesy and fraternal feeling. They should 
respect the dignity of their common profession so uiueh as 
to feel a sympathy with any member of it. Whatever 
differences may exist in respect of age, learning, ability, 
and fortune, when, to any one of them, the inevitable event 
comes that must come to them all, the custom of meeting 
together to render the last tribute of respect and regard to 
their departed brother is eminently becoming. It often 
happens — it must happen in' a majority of instances — that 
in such cases little of a distinctive chm-acter can be done. 
The life of the brother whose death is the occasion of the 
meeting, may have been too uneventful to endure much 
comment, or attract more than a passing regard. The ex- 
pression of regret for his loss, and sympathy with his 
family, are often all that can be uttered with propriety. It 
results from this that these meetings are apt to degenerate 
into formalism, and that the customary procedure — what is 
appropriate enough on ordinary occasions — is felt to be 
entirely inadequate and unsuited to that in which we take 
part this day. 

We do not meet in memory of a young and untried 
member of our professional family, but of its venerable 
head. By every title he challenges the homage of every 
understanding. By length of years spent in the practice of 
the law, by profound study, and thorough familiaritj^ with 
the principles of the science of the law ; by a success such . 
as is not always reached, even by such abilities and learning 
as constituted his claim ; by an irreproachable life, crowned 
by a death met in the service of the State at the period of 
her great trial ; by all these considerations, the memory 
of the departed claims our attention now. It is fit that we 
should pause a moment to reflect upon the excellence of 
the person we have lost — and it will not be unbecoming for 
a lawyer to allude to some of the traits which contributed 
to raise Hamilton E. Gamble to the head of his arduous 
profession. 



42 

He was a mau of extraordinary endowments. For 
nearly forty-five years he was a conspicuous citizen of the 
State. During almost the whole of that time he was 
chiefly known hy his professional labors. As a lawyer, he 
was well and deeply read. The clear, logical mind, which 
nature gave him, had been enriched and disciplined by 
close and various study. A singularly retentive memory 
enabled him to apply, with scarcely an effort, the stores of 
his vast learning. He had the faculty of discerning almost 
at a glance, the strength and the weakness of every case 
which was laid before him. He never manifested any 
affection for the weak points of his own case ; but he sel- 
dom failed to try every rivet and joint of the armor of his 
enemy in those parts where his admirable sagacity led him 
to suspect that it was vulnerable. It was not often that 
his attacks were directed against a point where the armor 
was of proof; and if the part assailed were indeed pene- 
trable, it was well nigh impossible to baflle the skill and 
force of his assault. His presentment of the strength of 
his own cause was, in all respects, excellent. He did not 
fatigue the court or jury by trivial points, or a rambling 
discourse which left his hearers doubtful what his own 
notions of the merits of his case really were. He 
boldly and plainly staked his success on the strong points 
of his cause. He forced those whom he addressed to 
understand his views. Of course, it was not possible in 
every instance to convince either court or jury that his 
case was meritorious j but even when he was the advocate 
of the losing side, he always left upon both the impression 
that everything had been said and done in its favor which 
law and the rules of procedure permitted. 

In cases of grave complication and difficulty, Mr. Gam- 
ble invariably rose with the occasion, and displayed 
strength and resources, the existence of which no one 
merely acquainted with his ordinary style of conducting 
business would have suspected. It may be truly said that 
he disliked and avoided display of all kinds. The motto of 



43 

Somei's — Proclesse qtiani coiispici — seemed to be his rule 
of action. This peculiarity led many to impute indolence 
to him. But this charge was entirely undeserved. For 
many pursuits he had no taste. He cared little for light 
literature, for poetry, and rhetoric. Perhaps he under- 
valued these. For the sciences, both physical and mental, 
his inclination was marked, and his proficiency unusual. 
It was characteristic also. It was not in his character to 
be a smatterer in anything. His acquaintance with the 
sciences was accordingly rather accurate, as far as it went, 
than extensive. Perhaps he knew nothing of the Calculus ; 
but few carried into active life, in larger measure, the 
fruits of the study of Geometry. He proportioned his 
effort to the greatness of the work to be done. Persons 
imperfectly acquainted with him, who had only seen him 
engaged in routine business, were apt to look for some 
degree of unpreparedness, perhaps some uufamiliarity with 
the matter in hand, when the case involved legal principles 
of rare emergency. None who ever met him in serious 
forensic contests was likely to retain this erroneous esti- 
mate of his mental character and equipment. It was 
almost proverbial that he was never driven to the neces- 
sity of asking for the remission of a judgment by de- 
fault. He was seldom in a hurry, but he was always 
in time. He took no pleasure, apparently, in being more 
than equal to the occasion ; but it was his pride never 
to be below it, and the stimulus of difficulty never failed 
to rouse him to an effort M^orthy of his powerful abil- 
ities, his well-digested reading, and accurate knowledge 
of the principles of law. Among his surviving brethren, 
who may be supposed to be next to him in professional 
rank, there is not one who will deny to the departed the 
very highest place at the bar of Missouri. It would be 
perhaps unbecoming for us to speak of the profession in 
other States, but those whose position has enabled them to 
make the comparison, have for a long time assigned to him 
a leading place among the jurisconsults of the nation. 



44 

In the conduct of causes at 7iisi j^^^ius, Mr. Gamble's 
ability was very marked. He made it his business to be as 
well acquainted with the facts of his own case and that of 
his adversary, as it was possible to become by the use of 
diligence ; but the utmost exercise of this quality often- 
times leaves much to be learned dui'ing the actual contest. 
The quickness with which he mastered the details of evi- 
dence and reduced them to order, the prompt sagacity with 
which he seized on any position of attack or defence, and 
the readiness with which his alert memorj^ and practised 
skill turned to account all the resources of his learning and 
experience, were the admiration of all who had enough 
tincture of these qualities to be able to appreciate their 
combination in this accomplished barrister. He never 
forced unnecessary burdens upon a cause ; he did not 
overload it with evidence, or encumber it with needless 
legal propositions ; and it was seldom that a case conducted 
by him at ?iisi prius was lost in the appellate Court in con- 
sequence of its advocate not having known when his work 
Avas done in the Court below. But, in the appellate Court, 
all the memory of the nice management and pure tact of 
the practitioner was lost in the contemplation of the pro- 
found knowledge and clear logic of the jurist. Here his 
eminent ability had its most appropriate field for exercise. 

Few of the important questions resjiecting land titles in 
Missouri, the determination of Avhich has given repose to 
property, can be thought of by lawyers without an acknowl- 
edgment of the services of the deceased in their elucida- 
tion. 

In his earlier professional career, he was for a long- 
time the prosecuting attorney of the judicial circuit which 
included St. Louis and the adjoining counties. I have 
heard from the best authority, (not from himself, however,) 
that in his whole experience he never failed of a convic- 
tion, when, at the close of the evidence, he continued to 
press for it. Often, when the evidence closed, he would 
say to the jury that he would not enter a nolle 2^'>'osequi, 



45 

because he considered the defendant entitled to a vei'dict 
of not guilty, upon the evidence. And, by thus cheerfully 
yielding to the testimony its full weight, he acquired a 
character for the conscientious discharge of duty, -which 
made his appeals to the triers of facts carry with them 
the force of a charge from the bench. It was perceived, 
that, when a prosecution was unsustained by testimony, 
he abandoned it; that, when innocence was made mani- 
fest, he acknowledged and rejoiced at it; and that to guilt 
alone, legally established, he was stern and unrelenting. 
With this explanation of his uniform success, it ceases to 
be a matter of wonder; but our respect for the upright 
sense of official duty, mingles with our admiration of the 
clear judgment of the advocate. 

I have spoken of traits in the character and incidents 
in the career of the deceased, s6me of which are known to 
me only by tradition, though I have been for nearly 
twenty-five years a member of the Bar of St. Louis. His 
services on the Bench of the Supreme Court of this State, 
of which he was Chief Justice from 1851 to 1855, are 
familiar to my younger brethren, and, besides, they are re- 
corded in the reports of its decisions ; and of these, there- 
fore, I will only say that they were conspicuous — that they 
settled many doubtful questions, and disentangled some of 
the most intricate questions which are peculiar to our polit- 
ical and social system. 

" The touching circumstances of the last scene of his 
labors and usefulness, I do not propose to enter upon with 
any detail. The time has not yet come to speak of them 
fully, for as yet the debt which the State owes him is im- 
perfectly understood. Time, which is so fatal to the pre- 
tensions of the charlatan, may be calmly trusted to set the 
seal of approval on the merits of Hamilton Eowan CtAm- 
BLE. When the mists of prejudice and passion — ^the 
ignorant fumes that mantle our clearer reason ' — shall have 
been chased away, it will be seen what difficulties he sur- 
mounted — what patient courage and calm fortitude he 
6 



46 

exerted in his great office — how much good he did, and 
how much evil he prevented. To say that he made some 
mistakes is merely to say that he was mortal. He was in 
the condition of a mariner navigating an unknown and 
stormy sea, of whose rocks and sands scarcely anything 
but actual contact gave warning. Yigilance to discern the 
first approach of danger from these causes — skill, energy, 
and patience, in the effort to render the mischief the least 
possible — these were the only qualities which, under such 
conditions, are of any practical value. Often, to a person 
so circumstanced, the only course is a choice of evils. The 
struggle is one of embarrassment and difficulty to test the 
courage of the bravest. Let it be gratefully remembered, 
thatjmder such discouragements and trials Governor CtAM- 
BLE did not falter. He had passed the age usually allotted 
to active exertion, and if he could have consulted selfish- 
ness alone, he would gladly have laid down a burden which 
nothing but an imperious sense of duty caused him to take 
up at the call of the State. He could not have been blind 
to what others so plainly saw — the danger to his health and 
life which a continuance of his labors involved. But he 
seemed to adopt the sentiment of the Eoman patriot — 
neoesse est ut earn non ut vivam — and persevered, amidst 
obstructions of whatever kind, in the discharge of his duties 
until he was struck down by death. It was his fortune — 
it was, perhaps, inevitable under such circumstances — that 
he should be assailed with much sharp and some unfriendly 
criticism. For this he cared little while alive ; he is be- 
yond and above all such things now. 

" Fear no more the heat of the sun, 
itTor the furious winter rages ; 
Thou thine earthly task hast done, 
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages. 

" Fear no more the lightning's flash, 
Nor the all-dreaded thunderstone ; 
Fear not slander's censure rash — 
Thou hast finished joy and moan !" 



47 



RESIAEKS OP HON. JOHN M. KRUjM. 

The trials and vicissitudes of life are always fall of in- 
struction, and \^'hen a fellow-being, like our deceased friend, 
— whose life has been so exemplary, practical, and full of 
usefulness — passes away, it is fit for those Avho survive him, 
and who have pursued the same profession, and it is espe- 
cially fit that the younger members of the Bar, should take 
a retrospect of the course and life of one who has been so 
long and so pre-eminently esteemed in all his public and 
private relations of life. 

Hamilton E. Gamble, whose loss we all deplore, who 
fulfilled so honorably his duties as a lawyer, and " who has 
done the State some service," was a man of mark, and of 
fully developed character. It was my good fortune to 
know him as early as the winter of 1834, having then just 
come to the "Western Country — as this region was then 
called. St. Louis, at that time, was a small town, and its 
population probably did not exceed 7,000. The members 
of the Bar, in practice, did not at that time number its 
hundreds, but, when all told, probably did not exceed 
twenty. 

Having been myself but recently admitted to the Bar, 
and being desirous of becoming acquainted with the Liavs 
and practice of Missouri, Mr. Gamble generously tendered 
to me the facilities and advantages of his own office, where 
I passed much of the time during the winter of that year. 
Standing thus in such close proximity to him, our relations 
became most friendly, and in some measure confidential. 
He was then in the very front rank, if not at the head, of 
the St. Louis Bar. 

From his own lips I learned many of the incidents, 
trials, and events, of his early life — of his training and 
studies. From all that I gathered from our repeated 
conversations, I inferred that in early life his means and 
opportunities for acquiring a classical education were lim- 
ited, and that he encountered many difficulties and embar- 



48 

rassments while pursuing* the study of his profession. It 
was solely achieved by close application and by unwea- 
ried perseverance. When Mr. Gamble commenced the 
practice of the law in Missouri, it was in a primitive 
condition. Courts that he attended were often fifty, sixty, 
and seventy miles distant from each other. In that early 
day a well-arranged library in a lawyer's office was scarcely 
known — a few elementary books, not exceeding half a 
dozen in number, and those carried in saddle-bags from 
Court to Court, constituted, as a general rule, the average 
of lawyers' libraries. 

It was under such circumstances that Mr. Gamble 
started in his professional career. Thrown, as it were, in 
a great measure, upon his own resources, he early acquired 
the habit of severe mental discipline in the preparation of 
his eases for trial or argument. In this yvaj his judgment 
became matured far in advance of many of his fellow-mem- 
bers of the Bar, who enjoyed greater opjiortunities to read 
and consult books. It has often been observed, and has 
been remarked here to-day, that the leading characteristics 
of Mr. Gamble as a lawyer, were, a readiness to compre- 
hend the turning point in a case, and a sound, discrimin- 
ating judgment in presenting the point to the mind and 
judgment of others. 

The matter of entering upon the practice of law, and 
practical life in the profession, was frequently the subject 
of conversation between us; and I shall never forget the 
great good sense that our deceased friend always exhibited 
in expressing his views. Indeed, and it is not out of place 
for me to say here to-day, that I feel myself greatly in- 
debted, for the little success I have attained in the jirofes- 
sion, to his wise counsels at that period of my life : I only 
regret that I did not follow his suggestions more closely. 
The views he expressed, in the course of our friendly inter- 
•ehanges of thought, influenced me in a great measure to 
seek my new home and destiny in our sister State of Illi- 
nois. He advised me to enter what was then familiarly 



49 

called the Circuit practice — in travelling from county to 
county. He thought that a young lawyer starting out in 
his professional career in this way, would more surely 
develope his powers, and acquire habits of accuracy in 
thought and expression for he is subjected to constant dis- 
cipline and daily tests before the Courts. In the views he 
thus expressed to me, I believe he was correct ; at least, 
my own observation has confirmed me in this belief. 

One trait of character stood out in bold relief through- 
out the whole course of Governor Gamble's varied life. 
He was a man of convictions. Every subject that engaged 
his attention, received that clear and practical investiga- 
tion so peculiar to himself, and he always reached a con- 
clusion : he did not suffer himself to remain in a state of 
hesitancy or doubt ; his mind grasped the subject — he 
reached the point, and his opinion was formed. Hence, I 
say, he was a man of convictions. But, what is more, and 
of far greater moment, the convictions of Mr. Gamble 
were not of a temporary or visionary character ; his con- 
victions were not only of the heart, but of the judgment, 
and he had the independence and firmness to follow them 
in the practical afi'airs of life. That he was eminently 
just in his sentiments and convictions, as they related to 
his associates, and all with whom he came in contact, is 
sufiiciently proved by the high esteem in which he has 
always been held where he has been best and most famil- 
iarly known. 

Governor Gamble was a man of no ostentation; sim- 
ple in his habits of life, he never burthened himself with 
external forms, or useless trappings of fashion or etiquette. 
I am aware that an impression rests on the minds of 
some that Mr. Gamble was a cold man, and that he had 
but little sympathy with those around him. This certainly 
is a wrong impression — I think I did not mistake the char- 
acter of the man. He was truly a most generous man; 
and I have seen him under circumstances that o-avc nie 



50 

most convincing proofs that he was a man of Avarm, active 
sympathies. This, I think, he exhibited in all of his rela- 
tions in domestic and private life. It is true, he was at 
times somewhat reticent — retired, and apparently with- 
drew himself from the active movements of society. But 
this is not strange ; who, that has had experience, does not 
know how absorbing are the duties and cares of an exten- 
sive and varied practice ! how much anxiety these duties 
and cares entail, and how much they withdraw one's 
thoughts from things of less grave imj)ortance ! The 
thoughts and anxieties necessarily bestowed on the cases 
entrusted to counsel, and the labor of their investigation 
and preparation, withdraw the faithful lawyer, in a great 
measure, from active participation in the scenes of social 
life. This all of us learn with increasing business and in- 
creasing years. 

Though I do not claim to have been more particularly 
intimate than others with Governor Gamble, I was suffi- 
ciently so to have gained an insight of his true character. I 
always found him cheerful, generous, frank, and abounding 
in good feeling. No one approached him in the proper 
spirit for assistance or advice who did not obtain it. 

Thus, my friends, in this brief and hasty review of the 
character of our deceased friend, we find that his course 
of life has been marked by its elevated tone, true dignity, 
and eminent usefulness. And though he is lost to us for 
the present, we may emulate his christian and professional 
character, and remember his virtues and goodness with the 
ijreatest satisfaction throug-h all future time. 



SPEECH OF SAMUEL T, GLOVEK. 

Mr. Chairman : I knew Hamilton E. Gamble for many 
years, but I can scarcely say I knew him intimately or 



51 

sociably. It was as early as 1838 that our acqiiaiutance 
began. I remember that in that year he came to Palmyra, 
Mo., where I w^as then residing, to attend the vSupreme 
Court. And I remember with what interest I, a beginner 
in the profession, listened to the arguments of a man who 
was generally, if not universally, acknowledged the ablest 
lawj-er in Missouri. In 1839, the distinguished jurist made 
another visit to our little town. The Eev. Ezra Stiles Ely 
had sued Marion College for a large amount of money, 
exceeding, I think, one hundred thousand dollars. If the 
suit succeeded, it would close the doors of that young, and 
then hopeful, institution. Mr. Gamble was sent for to 
represent the college, and to assist the resident counsel^ as 
we were told, in the management of the case. From the 
moment, however, that he had taken his seat at the counsel 
table, he was, not by any assumption of his own, but by 
respectful deference on the part of his colleagues to his 
unquestioned superiority, the absolute manager of the case. 
Among those colleagues were John I. Campbell, Thomas L. 
Anderson, and John Dryden — the latter at the present time 
a Judge of your Supreme Court. On the other side, as the 
counsel of Dr. Ely, appeared Uriel "Wright, Edwin G. Pratt, 
Stephen W. Carneggy, and, if I am not mistaken, the late 
Judge Carty Wells, of Troy. A great mass of testimony 
was produced, and the trial was protracted through many 
days. 

Uriel Wright, then eminent in all that section of the 
State as an orator, was prepared for one of his passionate 
and eloquent appeals in behalf of his client, and othei* 
counsel for the plaintiff were ready to support him ; but, on 
the closing of the testimony, Mr. Gamble produced an in- 
struction, not exceeding five lines in length, to which the 
Court promptly assented, and the plaintiff's cause was at 
an end. I eai'ly discovered in the intellectual character of 
the deceased a feature which I have seen in other minds, 
but in none other did I ever behold it so marked and prom- 



52 

inent. It was this : that he always selected one or two 
points in a cause which he deemed unanswerable^ or as 
nearly so as possible, and on them alone he staked eveiy- 
thing. He never attempted the least display at the hazard 
of diverting attention from the impregnable positions he 
assumed. He indulged in no repetition beyond what was 
necessary to make himself clearly understood, and never 
spoke at great length, never wearied his audience, the jury, 
or the Court. No one would call Mr. Gamble an orator, 
and yet it is known to all who came in collision with him 
at the bar, that he was a most formidable and successful 
jury advocate. He once said to me that the able men of 
the bar might be divided into two classes : one, that aimed 
at gaining the cause and making a display at the same 
time, which might add to their j)rofessional reputation ; 
another, that concentrated all their energies to gain the 
cause, suppressing every other motive. "And now," said 
Mr. Gamble, " there is Bates, and Benton, and Geyer, who 
belong to the first class. They struggle for victory, but 
they struggle also for renown; and they love to hear it said, 
not simply that the case was won, but that the counsel 
made a splendid effort and won the case. But," he con- 
tinued, "Mr. Spalding and m3^self belong to the latter class. 
We never go out of the way to gather flowers ; and it may 
be, after all, we lose as few of our cases as those who pur- 
sue a different course." 

Mr. Chairman, I did not rise to speak of the talents of 
the deceased — all concede his matchless powers — nor yet to 
commend his virtues. It needs not here, among his pro- 
fessional brethren who knew him so well, that I should 
remind any of the pure and stainless record of his private 
life. All this has been done by gentlemen much better 
than I could hope to do it. It has been my thought to 
portray, if I could, the single trait of mind which I have 
mentioned, and I have referred to its eifect upon his fo- 
rensic efforts. 



53 

If it lost him frequently the applause of the giddy mul- 
titude; it brought in return no inconsiderable advantages. 
It endued his professional character with modesty and 
dignity^ and an uncommon moral power. But it was not 
on his professional life alone that its influence was seen. 
Mr. Gamble was a person who relied as much upon himself, 
and as little upon others, as any one I have ever known. 
His actions seemed to spring almost wholly from his own 
thoughts. 

The whole historj^ of his life, both public and private, 
would seem to prove that he was remarkably insensible 
to the censures of the world, where, in his own mind, he 
had reasoned out that this or that was right ; he never 
cared what people thought of it. If they did not approve 
of it now, he confidently believed they would in course 
of time. That he loved his country, and strove Avith earn- 
est and honest zeal to promote her best interests, no one 
will deny who observed his ceaseless toils in her behalf. 
Why, sir, the sun was hardly more faithful in his accus- 
tomed rounds. Morning, noon, and night, found him at his 
post ; and, I may add, sir, that death found him there, too, 
harness on. Mr. Chairman, I have spoken of his inditfer- 
ence to censure. I happen to know, sir, that in regard to 
several of the official acts which had been misrepresented, 
and, perhaps, misunderstood, he was asked to furnish ex- 
planations to the public press. But he was unwilling, and, 
so far as my knowledge extends, he never made the slight- 
est effort to vindicate the motives of his public life. In all 
that he did, he seemed to act from the highest sense of 
moral duty ; and the approving voice of his own conscience 
cheered his pathway. If he despised the censures of man- 
kind, he was probably as little moved by praises which did 
not accord with his own appreciation of his acts. 

I have read somewhere of an ancient Greek philosopher 
and sage, who, doubtless, loved his country and did his 
duty well, but preferred to leave the world his deeds un- 
heralded, his virtues unproclaimcd, his name unknown. 
7 



54 

Like Governor Gamble, he looked to God, and not to man, 
for his reward, and caused to be inscribed upon his tomb 
the following epitaph : 

" My name, my country, what are they to thee ? 
"What, whether prond or low, my pedigree ? 
Perhaps I far surpassed all other men — 
Perhaps I fell below them all, what then ? 
Suffice it, stranger, that thou see'st a tomb; 
Thou knowest its use. It hides — no matter whom!" 



SPEECH OF ME. TODD. 

Although late, I will occupy only five minutes by the 
clock. For twenty-four years I have been acquainted with 
the deceased. It began professionally, and continued pro- 
fessionally. I have tried cases with him, and have tried 
cases against him, and can testify that that which has been 
said in regard to his peculiar traits of character is emi- 
nently true. I will simply say these few words in summing 
up my thoughts. He has lived in this community, a citi- 
zen, a lawyer, and a statesman ; and whoever has seen him 
in these three f)Ositions, must have looked upon him as one 
of those pillars of the city and State upon whose strength 
we have all depended. His strength was of the Doric 
order, and granite in its material. He was also one of 
those men who, if from furious errors, or the ambition of 
rulers, society has been disorganized, if ever again restored 
and established, such men as he, and he alone, were able to 
do it. 



SPEECH OF MK. VAJST WAGONEE. 

I cannot let this opportunity pass without saj^ing some- 
thing in behalf of those who knew Governor Gamble by 
reputation onl3\ "We had not the pleasure of an intimate 
acquaintance with him ; we have not been hero a sufficient 



55 

length of time. But, sir, we felt, and those of my class 
felt, that ^xe had lost a friend — a friend who has left us a 
legacy, which is stored in yonder library, to which we 
have had, and I trust we shall have, frequent access. He 
has left us a richer legacy in the noble example of his spot- 
less and fearless life. Much has been said of his talents ; 
but he had a foundation which it will be well for us to con- 
template. Talents amount to but little if they are not di- 
rected in the right and proper channel. I have learned, 
within the last few months, that Governor Gamble had a 
trait which it would be well for his equals, his peers — cer- 
tainly well for us, his juniors — to imitate j that, for many 
years past, even while an advocate at the Bar, before he 
took the judicial ermine, whenever he had a troublesome 
case, whenever there was embodied in the case principles 
that he imperfectly understood, it was his invariable cus- 
tom, in his own private closet, to kneel before the throne 
of Almighty God, and there ask Him for grace and wisdom 
to decide the case in which he was engaged. This jDrac- 
tice, I understand, he carried with him on to the bench of 
the Supreme Court; and latterly into the Gubernatorial 
office. Can it be wondered at that such a man should 
obtain and maintain the respect of his brethren until the 
latest years of his life ? He received his five talents ; 
the Master has come, and well do I believe he can ac- 
count for his five talents. "Well do I believe he is receiv- 
ing his reward, which says, " Thou hast done well over few 
things, I will make thee master over many." Governor 
Gamble possibly did err; but for us to expect anything else, 
would be to expect more than is human: but I am con- 
strained to think they were mere errors of the brain, and 
not of the heart. Why should he not have enemies ? The 
career of our Divine Saviour on the earth, shoAvs that 
enmity beset Him at every step. 

I am glad that I am permitted to mingle here in the ex- 
pression of respect and regret. I endorse, with all sin- 
cerity, these resolutions. 



56 



SPEECH OF ALEX. IMAETIN. 



I concur with my brother, Mr. Yan Wagoner, that the 
occasion should not bo allowed to pass without an expres- 
sion of regret from the junior members of the Bar. I 
would not be understood, hoAvever, as assuming to repre- 
sent that body. I rise to speak merely because I am part 
of it, and as such desire to see all due honor given to the 
illustrious dead. 

Of the early career of the deceased, I am almost wholly 
uninformed, except in so far as it constitutes a part of our 
general history, or is interwoven with the laws Avhich it 
has been my duty to stud}'. It has been only within the 
last few years that I have enjoyed the honor and pleasure 
of his acquaintance. In that acquaintance, I need not say 
to those who have enjoyed his friendship for a lifetime, I 
have found everything to praise and admire — nothing, ab- 
solutely nothing, to censure and condemn. 

It is, perhaps, more appropriate on this occasion, and in 
this assembly, that I should speak of Governor Gamble as 
a jurist whose eminence has long been acknowledged in our 
State. 

It may be that I am partial to our profession, but I can- 
not help thinking that in the decisions he rendered while 
Judge of our Supreme Court, he erected the most enduring 
monument to his name. His mind was eminent!}' judicial 
in its sti'ucture. He was endowed with all the great 
attributes of the jurist. He was just and impartial. His 
examination of a subject was profound and thorough; his 
reasoning severely logical. His powers of analysis, when 
applied to any subject, were truly astonishing. His decis- 
ions are terse, yet comprehensive. They are the emana- 
tions of a self-reliant mind. "While they recognize and 
acknowledge the learning of others, they owe but little to 
it. They came forth from the light that was Avithin the 
man. In this, as in many other respects, they resemble 
the decisions of Chief Justice Marshall. The mind of 



57 

Governor Gamble was massive and Wcbsterian in its cast. 
I have heard him in several arguments before the Supreme 
Court. There seemed to be no struggle or effort in any- 
thing he said or did. There was a majestic repose about 
him, which is said to be the most distinguishing characteris- 
tic of a transcendent intellect. 

Of the political career of Governor Gamble, I do not 
propose to speak. I do not think the time has yet come 
for final judgment upon it. It is seen as j'ct through the 
mists of prejudice and passion. 

I will say this, however. When the troubles first rose in 
this State — when they hung like a cloud in the sky, the 
eyes of the people were instinctively turned towards him 
for counsel and deliverance. When he was made Provis- 
ional Governor of the State, there was not another man 
within our borders who commanded, in an equal degree, 
the confidence and respect of all factions in the State. In 
my humble opinion, that confidence and respect have never 
been forfeited or betrayed. I believe his memory will be 
cherished through all coming time as one of the greatest 
and best of men. 

I think I am justified in using here the words of an 
English bard, written by him on occasion of the death 
of one who had on many fields of battle maintained the 
supremacy of the British Empire, and w^hoso wisdom had 
guided her counsels in peace : 

" O, good gray head, ■which all men knew; 
O, voice, from which their omeus all men drew; 
O, iron nerve, to true occasion true. 
O, fallen at length, that tower of strength, 
Which stood four square to all the winds that blew. 
Such was he whom we deplore. 
The long self-sacrifice of life is o'er." 



The Chairman then appointed as Committee to present 
these proceedings to the different Courts, the following 
irentlemen : 



68 

To the Supreme Court— Mr. Todd. 

To the Circuit Court — Mr. Shepley. 

To the Land Court — Mr. Broadhead. 

To the Common Pleas Court — Mr. Irwin Z. Smith. 

To the U. S. Circuit Court— Mr. Grover. 

To the U. S. District Court— Mr. Eankin. 

To the Criminal Court — Mr. Youllaire. 

To the Law Commissioner's Court — Mr. Lucien Eaton. 

Mr. Hitchcock moved that the proceedings of this meet- 
ing be published in all the city papers ; which was carried 
unanimously. 

Mr. McPherson then said : " I would like to bear my tes- 
timony to what has been said of the virtues and goodness 
of the deceased, and could speak with interest of my own 
acquaintance with him ; but the hour approaches when we 
should assemble at the church, and I therefore move we 
adjourn and repair to the church in a body — the Chairman 
first, the Committee next, and members of the Bar two 
and two." 

Which motion was unanimously carried. 



BAE MEETING. 

In pursuance of the notice published in the morning 
newspapers, a meeting of the members of the St. Louis 
Bar was held in the Circuit Court room on the 1st day of 
February, 1864, to take appropriate action concerning the 
death of his Excellency Hamilton E. Gamble, late Provis- 
ional Governor of Missouri. 

The meeting was called to order by Hon. Alexander 
Hamilton, on whose motion Hon. John F. Darby was 
chosen Chairman j and Calvin F. Burne, Esq., was, on mo- 
tion of Judge John M. Krum, chosen Secretary. 



59 

On assuming the chair, Hon. John F. Darby addressed 
the meeting, giving a brief history of the early life and 
character of the illustrious deceased. 

On motion of Judge S. M. Breckinridge, it was ordered 
that a Committee of seven be appointed by the Chair to 
propose appropriate resolutions expressive of the virtues 
and character of the honored dead, and to report the same 
to an adjourned meeting, to be held at the same place on 
"Wednesday, the 3d inst., at 9 o'clock a. m. ; thereupon the 
Chair appointed the following gentlemen to compose said 
Committee : 

Hon. S. M. Breckinridge, Judge Alexander Hamilton, 
Judge John M. Krum, Judge Wilson Primm, Samuel T. 
Glover, Esq., Thomas T. Gantt, Esq., and Alexander J. P. 
Garesche, Esq. 

On motion of Judge Primm, the meeting adjourned until 
Wednesday, 3d inst., at 9 o'clock a. m., at which time the 
meeting was called to order by the Chairman, and the re- 
port of the Committee was submitted, as follows : 

[The report will be found in another place .] 

On motion, the report of the Committee was unanimous- 
ly adopted. 

The meeting was then addressed in impressive and ap- 
proj)riate terms by Thomas T. Gantt, Esq., Hon. John M. 
Krum, Samuel T. Glover, Esq., Albert Todd, Esq., G. S. 
Yan Wagoner, Esq., and Alexander Martin, Esq. 

On motion of Henry Hitchcock, Esq., it was ordered 
that a copy of these resolutions and proceedings of the 
meeting be published in the newspapers of this city. 

In accordance with the resolutions reported by the Com- 
mittee, the following gentlemen were appointed by the 
Chair to present the resolutions and proceedings of the 
meeting to the various Courts of this city, to-wit : 
Supreme Court — Albert Todd, Esq. 
Circuit Court — John E. Shcpley, Esq. 
Land Court — James O. Broadhead, Esq. 
Court of Common Pleas — Irwin Z. Smith, Esq. 



60 

U. S. Circuit Court — Wm. IS". Grover, Esq. 
U. S. District Court — John H. Eankin, Esq. 
Criminal Court — Sej'mour Youllaire, Esq. 
Law Commissioner's Court — Lueien Eaton, Esq. 
On motion of AYm. M. McPlierson, Esq., it was ordered 
that this meeting now adjourn to the Eirst Presbyterian 
Church, to attend the funerah 

The members of the Bar proceeding in a body, led b}' 
the President, then attended the funeral services. 

0. F. BURNES, 

Secretarij. 



IN THE ST. LOUIS COUNTY COUET, 

The following resolutions were passed : 

Whereas, The Almighty Dispenser of human events has, 
in His inscrutable Providence, removed from us, by death, 
his Excellency Hamilton Eowan Gamble, Governor of this 
State ; now, as a mark of respect to the memory of one, 
who not only has filled the highest office of the State, but 
who has left behind the record of an honorable and well- 
spent life ; therefore, 

liesolved, That in the death of Governor Gamble the 
State has sustained a great loss, and a place is left vacant 
in the State and community that no ordinary man can fill ; 
that we are seldom called upon to mourn the loss of so 
great, so good, and so irreproachable a man — pure and af- 
fectionate in private life, honest and faithful in public. 

liesolved, That this Court, in view of the afllictiug dis- 
pensation which the death of Governor Gamble imposes 
upon the whole community, we deem it not inappropriate 
that a public expression of our sympathy for his bereaved 
family, and sorrow for the great loss to our particular com- 
munity, and the State at large, should be made by us in our 
official capacity ; and that the same be entered upon the 
records of this Court. 

As a testimony of our respect, it is ordered that this 
Court now adjourn to Thursday next, at 11 o'clock a. m. 



^csnlxitioii^ of biirbus §oiiics. 



MEETIXG OF THE MEECHAXTS' EXCHAXGE. 

Union IMerchants' Exchange, 
St. Louis, Mo., February 1, 1864. 

A meeting of members was held this day, at the call of 
the President of the Exchange, to take some action to 
show respect to the memory of the late Governor Gamble. 

Col. C. L. Tucker offered the following preamble and 
resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, The members of the Exchange have learned, 
with deep regret, that the Hon. Hamilton E. Gamble, late 
Provisional Governor of the State of Missouri, died at his 
residence in this city, yesterday, at half-past eleven o'clock 
A. M. ) and whereas we, the representatives of the commer- 
cial interests of the city, deem it proper that some mark of 
respect should be shown by us to the memory of one hold- 
ing so high a position in the State ; therefore, 

Besolved^ That as a token of respect to the memory of 
the Hon. Hamilton E. Gamble, late Governor of Missouri, 
the Exchange Eooms shall be closed on "Wednesday next. 

Hesolved, That a Committee of nine members be appoint- 
ed by the President, to make such arrangements as they 
may deem best in reference to attending the funeral of the 
deceased. 



62 

The President appointed Messrs. C. L. Tucker, Barton 
Able, A. W. Fagin, Adolphus Meier, Samuel Plant, H. A. 
Homej-er, N. Stevens, Edgar Ames, and \Ym. B'Oencli, on 
a Committee of Arrangements. 

The Committee of Arrangements will meet at the office of 
the Secretarj' at ten o'clock a. m., Tuesday, the 2d inst. 

J. H. ALEXANDER, 

Secretary. 



]\IEECHANTS' EXCHAT^GE EESOLUTIONS. 

The following resolutions were reported by a Committee 
at the Merchants' Exchange yesterday, and unanimously 
adopted : 

1st. That. in the death of Hamilton E. G-amble the State 
has lost an honest and faithful officer, and the community 
in which he lived one of its most prominent and useful 
citizens ; a man, in all the relations of life, of whom the 
country at large may well be proud. 

2d. That the members of this Exchange will meet at the 
Exchange Eoom, at 9 o'clock a. m., on Wednesday, and 
proceed thence in a body to the church to attend the funeral 
services, wearing the usual badge of mourning. 

3d. That the President be instructed to have the south 
end of the hall draped Avith mourning for thirty days. 

4th. That the heartfelt sympathies of the members of 
this Exchange are respectfully tendered to the bereaved 
family, and the President is instructed to convey to them a 
copy of these resolutions. 

CHARLES L. TUCKER, 

Chairman of Committee. 



DEATH OF GOYERNOR GAMBLE. 

At a special meeting of the Captains of the Marine and 
Charitable Association, the following preamble and resolu- 
tions were unanimously adopted : 



Whereas, It has pleased Divine Providence to remove 
from onr midst Hamilton E. Gamble, the Governor of this 
Commonwealth ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, 1st, That we recognize the hand of God, in 
doing His pleasure among the children of men, in summon- 
ing the good and great, as well as the most lowly ; but that 
it is with unfeigned sorrow we now mourn the death of so 
faithful a public servant as was our late Chief Magistrate. 

Resolved, 2d, That during nearly half a century. Gover- 
nor Gamble, as a citizen, a lawyer, a judge, and a devoted 
Christian, has conferred honor upon each position, and it is 
in no formal spirit we express admiration of his life and 
character. Moreover, as the Governor of our State, he is 
entitled to the honored meed, " Well done, good and faithful 
servant. '' 

Resolved, 3d, That we send to the bereaved family our 
condolence and sympathy. The loss of a useful, active life 
is greatj but to the mourning family it is unspeakable. 

Resolved, 4th, That the vessels now in port display their 
flags at half-mast; and that, as far as practicable, we will 
attend the funeral at 10 o'clock a. m., this day. 

N. RANNEY, 

President pro tern. 
Attest : J. F. Douglas, 

Secretary pro tern. 



EESOLUTION OF EESPECT TO THE LATE GOYEE- 
XOE GAMBLE. 

At a meeting of the Western Sanitary Commission, held 
February 2d, 1864, the following resolution was una}iimous- 
ly adopted : 

Resolved, That in token of respect for the late Governor 
of ]\Iissouri, the Honorable Hamilton E. Gamble, and of 
their high appreciation of his efficient services, of his 
blameless personal character, and of his uniform attention 



64 

to the claims of the sick and wounded iu the Department 
of the Missouri; the members of the "Western Sanitary 
Commission will attend his funeral to-morrow, in a body, 
at the Second Presbyterian Church. 



BOAED OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Office Board Public Schools, 

Tuesday Evening, February 2, 18G4. 

At a meeting of the Board this evening, held pursuant to 
a call of the President, the following preamble and resolu- 
tions were adopted : 

Whereas, We are convened upon an extraordinary occa- 
sion, and feel deeply aifected by the irreparable loss we 
have suffered in the death of his Excellency Hamh^ton E. 
Gamble, Governor of the State of Missouri. He has been 
so long a citizen of this city, and so identified with our 
interests, that his excellent character is well known, and 
our expressions of regard and veneration toward him are 
but those, not only of the city, but of the whole State of 
Missouri. Much has been already expressed by many 
meetings of the various associations of our fellow-citizens 
in relation to the character and death of Governor Gamble, 
which we heartily endorse ; but the event which has called 
us together, and which we so much deplore, and appears to 
us as a public calamity, we feel well assured is to him but 
the opening of the gateway of unending felicity. He has 
long and truly lived a christian life, worthy of our individ- 
ual example. As such, he had the confidence of all our 
people, of whatever sect or denomination. Amid the tur- 
bulence of our calamitous civil war, he has been constantly 
faithful to the great trust reposed in him by the loyal peo- 
ple of the State, who, with great unanimity, approved of 
his election to the gubernatorial chair; therefore, 



65 

Besolved, That we deeply deplore the death of our de- 
ceased friend and fellow-citizen as an irreparable public 
loss. 

Hesolved, That we have regarded the deceased as a friend 
to the education of the masses of our youth, and truly 
desirous of the success of our Public »Schools. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his bereaved 
consort, his children, and relatives, in their deep affliction. 

Resolved, That this Board, as a body, will attend his 
funeral, as a tribute of profound respect to the memory of 
the deceased. 

Resolved, That this expression of our high estimation of 
the virtues of the deceased be spread upon the minutes, 
and a copy communicated to his bereaved family by the 
Secretary of the Board. 



ISAIAH FORBES, 

President. 



Attest : M. C. Jexxixgs. 



NOTICE. 

IMayok's Office, City Hall, 

St, Louis, February 2, 1864. 

The members of the Common Council of the City of St. 
Louis are requested to meet in the Council Chamber on 
Wednesday, the 3d instant, at 10 o'clock a. m., to pay due 
and proper respect to, and arrange for the attendance of, 
the funeral of the Hon. Hamilton E. Gamble, late Gover- 
nor of the State. 

The Department officers and other city officials are re- 
quested to meet at the same time and place, for the same 
purpose. 

CHAUNCEY I. FILLEY, 

Mayor. 



66 

POST OFFICE NOTICE. 

As a tribute of respect to the memory of the late Ham- 
ilton E. Gamble, Governor of the State, this office will be 
closed to-day (Y.^ednesday) during the hours of his funeral 
obsequies, from 11 o'clock a. m., to 1 o'clock p. m. 

P. L. FOY, 



Post Office, St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 3, 1864. 



Postmaster. 



NOTICE. 

St. Louis, Mo., February 3, 1864. 

Members of the General Assembly of Missouri are re- 
quested to meet at the parlor of the Planters' House, this 

morning at 9 o'clock. 

H. J. DEAL, 

M. W. ROBINSON, 

D. P. DYER, 

For Committee. 



A train will be at the depot of the North Missouri Pail- 
road, corner of Second and North Market streets, this 
morning, to accommodate those in want of conveyance to 
Bellefontaine Cemetery to attend the funeral of Governor 

Gamble. 

ISAAC H. STURGEON. 



NOTICE 



The Steamboat Captains' Benevolent Association is noti- 
fied to attend in their Rooms, at 9 a. m., this day, to make 
arrangements to pay a last tribute of respect to the 

memory of Governor Gamble. 

J. N. BOFINGER, 

Secretary. 



67 



Union Merchants' Exchange, 

St. Louis, Mo., February 3, 186i. 

The President respectfully requests the members to meet 
in the Exchange Eooms promptly this morning at 9 o'clock; 
to attend the funeral of Governor Gamble. 

J. II. ALEXANDER, 

Secretary. 



HOXOES TO THE LATE GOYEENOE GAMBLE. 

Htllsboko, February 6, 1864. 

At a meeting of the Hillsboro Bar, held in the Court 
room on the evening of the 3d instant, on motion of John 
L. Thomas, Esq., the Hon. James "W. Owens was called 
upon to preside over the meeting as President ; who, upon 
taking the chair, explained the object of the meeting to be 
for the purpose of expressing the feelings and sentiments 
of the members of the Bar relative to the death of the 
late Executive of the State, the Hon. Hamilton E. Gamble. 

On motion of Philip Pipkin, Esq., Mr. Elias F. Honey 
was appointed Secretary of the meeting. 

Thereupon Col. Thomas C. Fletcher addressed the meet- 
ing in a short but eloquent eulog}^ on the life, and character, 
and moral worth, of the late Chief Executive officer of the 
State, and moved the appointment of a Committee to draft 
and present to the meeting a preamble and resolutions ex- 
pressive of the sentiments of the members of the Bar. 

The President thereupon appointed Col. Thos. C. Fletcher, 
Philip Pipkin, and the Hon. Charles Jones, as said Com- 
mittee, who reported the following preamble and resolu- 
tions, which were unanimously adopted : 

"Whereas, By a dispensation of an all-wise Providence, 
the State has been deprived of the Chief Executive officer, 
in whom the members of the Bar recognize the qualities 
and attainments of a great and good man, making it ap- 
propriate that an expression of our feelings be made a 
matter of record in this Court ; therefore. 



68 

Eesolmd, That, in the death of his Excellency Hamilton 
E. Gamble, we mourn the loss of one of the great orna- 
ments of the Bar, and the Eench of Missouri, whose ability 
as a jurist, and woi'th as a man, has entitled, as well as 
given him, the first place among the members of our 
profession. 

Resolved, That wo deeply sympathize with the family 
and relatives of the deceased in their sad bereavement, 

Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented 
to the Jefferson Circuit Court, with the request that thej' 
be spread upon the record of the Court, and that a copy 
thereof be published in the papers of the city of St. Louis. 

Thereupon the President appointed John L. Thomas, 
Esq., to present the resolutions to the Circuit Court of 

Jefferson County. 

ELIAS F. HONEY, 

Secretary. 



Hon. Charles Jones addressed the meeting in a very able 
and effective speech, and remarked that he most cordially 
endorsed the remarks of Col. Fletcher, and was read}' to 
express his regrets in common with the people of Missouri, 
at the calamity which has fallen upon us by the death of so 
great and good a man as Governor Gamble. 

He stated that he had been acquainted with the Governor 
for a quarter of a century ; he had served with him in the 
Legislature of Missouri, in 1844 and 1845, at the revising 
session, and upon the same Committees. He found him a 
man of great experience, of comprehensive mind, and un- 
swerving integrity, and a most useful member. The best 
portion of his life was spent in the arduous and laborious 
practice of his profession, of which he stood at the head. 
He was a member of the Bar when our most talented men, 
such as Benton, Bates, Geyer, Spalding, and others, were 
actively engaged in the profession, and it cannot be said 
that any of them excelled him as a jurist. He seemed to 



69 

abhor politics, and it may be trul}' said he was no politician. 
He accepted oflSce reluctantly; but whenever he suffered his 
name to be used in connection with office, was always 
elected with overwhelming majorities over those elected on 
the same ticket. The offices he filled were of the highest 
order for respectability and talent, such as Judge of the 
Supreme Court, and Governor of the State, and even these 
he had no desire to hold. He sought retirement from the 
busy turmoil of life ; but sprang into the very midst of it 
at the entreaty of his friends, when the State of his adop- 
tion, which he so fondly loved, and the Government he had 
so long cherished with admiration and devotion, Avere en- 
dangei'ed by this most terrible rebellion. He was an earnest 
and devoted Union man from the beginning, and, although 
there may have been those who differed from him in man}' 
matters of policy, yet this could not have been otherwise, 
considering the times through which we have passed. Few, 
if any, could have done as well. Much, no doubt, of the 
prejudice that may have existed ujjon the part of some, 
resulted from misapprehension and ignorance of the many 
matters that he was called upon to act. But all, friend and 
foe, unite in awarding to him honesty and patriotism. Of 
the numerous documents that he was called upon to write, 
none will accord to him greater praise than his message to 
the General Assembly of Missouri, in reply to the secession 
resolutions of the vState of Delaware. As an evidence of 
the high esteem in which that message was held as a docu- 
ment in favor of the Federal Union, and the Constitution 
of the United States, by our General Assembly, although 
resohition after resolution was offered as a response by that 
body, the message of Governor Gamble upon that subject 
was offered as a substitute for all, and adopted almost 
unanimously by that body, as a response to those resolu- 
tions. Governor Gamble was a Christian and a patriot, 
and may be truly called a great and good man, and leaves 
an enduring reputation of which any man may be truly 
proud. 

9 



Comments oi the ^ress. 



THE FUNEEAL OP GOVEENOE GAMBLE. 

The occasion of the funeral of Governor Hamilton E. 
Gamble — whose death occurred on Siindaj", the olst of 
January, 1864: — took place j'esterdaj'. There was a marked 
difference between the manifestations at this, and the de- 
monstrations generally observable at the funerals of great 
men. There was a spontaneous tribute of respect, which 
did not require the pageantry of military display as an 
incentive for its exhibition. The vast crowds that thronged 
the approaches to the church, "the troops of friends," of 
all ages and conditions, who went to testify their venera- 
tion for a great and good man, whose loss was felt among 
all that knew his worth, or had heard his name — these were 
moved by no idle curiosity, but seemed urged by an un- 
selfish love and reverence for a man who had given the 
peace and quiet of his old age, and at last his life, in the 
service of his State. 

Governor Gamble was truly of a commanding presence. 
Tall, straight and lithe of build, his frame betokened a 
vigor born of a healthful and well preserved physique. His 
features, almost a model of manly beauty, were full of that 
divinity of expression — made up of benevolence, piety, and 
honor — that wins the heart at once whenever seen. As, 
through the days intervening between his death and burial, 
that godlike form lay clothed in the habiliments of the 
tomb, one could but reflect that truly " death loves a shin- 



71 

ing mark/' But the destroyer had not rohbed the great 
man of all his earthlj- glor}^ — the impressive sj-mmetry of 
those features was visible still, though the shadow of the 
valley rested upon them ; though the light of intellect was 
gone, and the smile, the look of love, and the lofty, com- 
manding presence of greatness had fled, still there, prostrate 
in imposing state, lay the splendid clay that late was ani- 
mated with so grand a spirit. And they who looked upon 
it gazed wonderingiy in admiration of him who was gone. 

The funeral obsequies were performed at the Second 
Presbyterian Church, corner of Fifth and Walnut streets, 
of which congregation the deceased was a member. The 
church was crowded with the immediate friends and rela- 
tives of the deceased, members of the Legislature, military 
officers present upon invitation, the personal Staff of the 
late Governor, as well as the attaches of the Adjutant- 
General's office, and such others as could obtain seats or 
standing room, while the approaches outside were crowded 
with thousands of persons of all classes. 

The coffin — a beautiful mahogany case, silver mounted, 
and ornamented with a large variegated wreath of flowers 
— arrived in the church at 11^- o'clock, borne by the follow- 
ing pall-bearers : 

J. G. Soulard, Andrew Elliott, 

Wm. G. Pettis, Adolphus Meier, 

S. T. Glover, Chas. R. Hall, 

J. O. Broadhead, John How, 

Sullivan Blood, Jas. "W". Booth, 

Bernard Pratte, C. S. Greeley, 

Dr. Eobt. Simpson, Albert G. Edwards, 

Andrew Christy, Robt. Campbell, 
Wyllys King. 

As the procession entered the church, the organ sounded 
a solemn dirge, which was followed by that effective hymn, 
sung by the choir, commencing : 

" Thou iart gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee." 

"When the last notes of this beautiful hymn had ceased, 
the Rev. Dr. Nelson, of the First Presbyterian Church, read 



72 

an appropriate selection from the Psalms ; upon the conclu- 
sion of which; the Eev. Dr. Post; of the First Cougi*ega- 
tional Church, delivered a most impressive and eloquent 
prayer. 

The sermon of Pev. Mr. Brooks, of the Second Presbyte- 
rian Church; which here ensued, was of the very highest 
character of pulpit oratory, reviewing, as it did, in succinct 
and perfect order, the principal events of the life of Gov- 
ernor Gamble, and comprising a just estimate of his char- 
acter as a man and a Christian. So concise and compre- 
hensive a discourse has rarely been delivered on such an 
occasion. 

The exercises were concluded with prayer by Eev. Dr. 
McPheeters, of the Pine street Presbj'terian Church, when 
the funeral cortege moved to Bellefontaine Cemetery. 

The church was appropriately draped in mourning. 

There were present among the militar}'. Generals Fisk, 
Xc^Teil, Edwards, and Pj'le, with the officers composing 
their staffs ; also, Adjutant-Genei'al Gray, who superintend- 
ed the arrangements for the funeral ; the Police Battalion, 
under Major Couzins, who rendered good service in pre- 
venting confusion, which must otherwise have ensued in so 
large a concourse of people. The very large meeting of 
the St. Louis Bar, held in the Circuit Court Poom, adjourn- 
ed to the church and entered in a body. 

The galleries of the church, as well as the main body, 
were crowded, and the aisles half-way to the pulpit were 
filled with persons who stood throughout the exercises. 

The exercises at the cemetery were conducted by the 
Eev. Mr. Brooks, when the coffin was put in its resting 
place. — J\Io. Mejnihlicafi. 



THE DEATH OF GOVEENOE GAMBLE. 

Many persons in this city were not apprised of the death 
of His Excellency Governor Gamble until the announce- 
ment appeared in the papers yesterday morning, though 



the mounifnl intelligence spread qxnte rapidly during the 
afternoon of the day before. Our citizens had been pre- 
pared for the event for some daj's, as the Governor's condi- 
tion had been represented as critical, and as it "vvas known 
that small hope was entertained of his recover}-. In all 
circles, including those that lately canvassed his Adminis- 
tration with severe criticism, it was felt that a man of 
unspotted probity and pure christian character had de- 
parted from our midst, and even political opponents could 
not but feel the touch of bereavement occasioned by his 
demise. 

Through the city, flags upon public- buildings, as the 
Court-house, hotels, kc, were displayed at half mast. 
Suitable recognition of the sad event was taken by the 
various Coui'ts, and at a meeting of the Bar a committee 
was appointed to prepare appropriate resolutions, to be 
reported at an adjourned meeting to-morrow morning. At 
the Merchants' Exchange, also, the Governor's death was 
announced, and pi^eliminaries arranged for participation in 
the obsequies. The General Court Martial and Military 
Commission, of which Colonel Clopper is President, after 
the passage of resolutions, adjourned, in token of respect for 
the memory of the deceased. Our dispatches from Jefferson 
City relate what was done in the Legislature, upon the 
receipt of Governor Hall's message, conveying official notice 
of Governor Gamble's death. Below we collect various 
proceedings in this city, bearing upon the subject, preceded 
by the notice of the late Executive's Adjutant-General, 
Colonel Gray, inviting militar}'- oflicers, who may be in the 
city, to attend the funeral ceremonies to-morroM^ — JIo. Rep. 



THE LATE G0VER:N"0E GAMBLE. 

The funeral services consequent on the death of the late 
Governor of this State, H. E. Gamble, will take place this 
morning at 10 o'clock, at the Second Presbyterian Church, 



74 

corner of Walnut and Fifth streets. Eev. Mr. Brooks, the 
Pastor of the Church, who was with the deceased in his last 
illnesS; and other clergymen of the same persuasion; it is 
understood, will officiate on the occasion. The civic Gov- 
ernment of St. Louis, the Bar of which he was a prominent 
member, the Courts with whose halls he had so long been 
familiar, the Legislature with which he had been in the fre- 
quent habit of oflicial and social intercourse for the last two 
years, the military of the Department, the members of the 
Union Exchange, and citizens generally, have all shown an 
eagerness to join in this testimonial to one of the jnirest 
men of our time. 

An order from General Gray, as far as it could be done in 
consonance with the wishes of the family of the deceased, 
sets forth the programme of the Procession, and it will, of 
course, be observed. In the universal sorrow which is felt 
at this affliction of the vState, (with here and there a single 
exception,) it would have been impossible to provide for all 
those who were anxious to testify their respect for the 
deceased ; but still there will be as heartfelt a tribute as 
was ever tendered to the virtues of any man in this city or 
country. — Mo. Ile])uhlican. 



DEATH OF GOVERNOE HAMILTON E. GAMBLE. 

Hamilton Rowan Gamble, Provisional Governor of Mis- 
souri, died at his residence, corner of Fourteenth street and 
Lucas Place, in this city, yesterday morning, in the sixty- 
sixth year of his age. His death is the eifect of prostration 
of his vital forces, never very vigorous, and seriously de- 
pressed by the accident which fractured his arm last sum- 
mer, and a subsequent fall on the ice a few weeks ago. 
Hamilton R. Gamble was born in Virginia, and emigrated 
to Missouri Territory about the year 1817, settling at Old 
Franklin, in Howard county, a town long since nearly 



75 

destroyed by the ravages of the Missouri river. xVfter 
residing at Old Franklin a few years, he came to St. Louis 
and devoted himself industriously to the practice of law. 
His patient and pei'severing efforts in that thriving town 
were rewarded by the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and 
by the enjoyment of a large and lucrative practice, which 
secured him wealth and influence. He had represented 
this county in the Legislature, and had served a term as 
Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. At the com- 
mencement of the agitations which preceded the war, he 
took a firm stand on the side of the Union, and did much 
by his personal eflorts and influence to strengthen that 
cause in St. Louis and in the State. In February, 1861, he 
was elected to the State Convention by a vote more than 
one-third larger than that cast for any other successful 
candidate. His abilities, experience, and personal virtues, 
at once gave him a commanding position in that body, and 
it chose him Provisional Governor, to succeed Governor 
C. F. Jackson, whom it had deposed. At the last session of 
the Convention, in the summer of 1863, he sent in his 
resignation ; but the Convention refused to accept it, and 
he was prevailed upon to withdraw it, and continue in the 
responsible position, whose duties he had discharged with 
singular fidelity and ability. 

Xo man occupying the Executive chair of the State 
during the turbulent period which, we hope, it has now 
nearly passed through, could have hoped to avoid denuncia- 
tion and embittered opposition. He received his full share 
of both, and he has passed a^vay in the very midst of it; 
but when the hot passion of the hour shall have subsided, 
his enemies will be forced, by their better nature, to admit 
what his early and intimate friends and associates know, 
that he was, first, and before all things else, a devoted and 
unostentatious Christian ; and after that, an inflexible, stead- 
fast patriot — an exemplary father, husband and citizen — and 
a genial, kind, and sincere friend. — St. Louis Union. 



76 

DEATH OF GOYERXOR GAMBLE. 

^Ye yesterday announced the death of Governor Gamble, 
of Missouri. The intelligence of this melancholy fact had 
previously reached us through the telegraph, but, as it was 
not accompanied with any cii-cumstantial statement, we 
cherished the hoj)e that it might possibly be unfounded, and 
abstained from giving it currency. As it is, we can onlj- 
deplore his loss as a public calamity, coming, as it does, at 
a time when, by his wise and judicious and conscientious 
performance of duty, under circumstances of peculiar diffi- 
culty, he had done, and was still doing so much to restore 
peace and prosperity within the bounds of Missouri. He 
was a true patriot, in the highest signification of that term, 
because discharging the obligations of patriotism under a 
solemn sense of christian duty, Avhich, in his case, was as 
enlightened as it was sincere. — JVational Intelligencer. 

4 



GOVERNOR GAMBLE. 

"Governor Gamble is dead." How soon these fatal 
words will reach the ear of all who dwell in the State. 
Our State has lost a great and good man ; one, who in the 
darkest hour of revolution, when the Ship of State was fast 
drifting towards a treasonable shore of desolation, firmly 
took the helm, and safely, through dangerous channels, 
reached a point which fixed forever the destiny of Mis- 
souri as a loyal State of the Federal Union. 

Governor Gamble was from Yirginia. He had much of 
that State pride so common to those born upon her soil. 
Yet his love for the Union and the Constitution was a 
stronger feeling than aftection for his native State. "When 
Yirginia assumed a treasonable position, and became one of 



the Coufcderate States, he repudiated her course, and used 
all his energy to keep Missouri, his adopted State, true to a 
line of loyalty. — /St. Joseph Herald. 



NO COUETS. 



The Courts all adjourned yesterday in honor of the funeral 
of the late Governor Gamble. 



DEAETH OF LOCAL NEWS. 

There was scarcely an occurrence yesterday in the way 
of local news worth recording — no Courts, no Coroner's in- 
quest, no fire, no public arrests. 



10 



#ri)tr d JfuneraL 



K O T I C E 



Headqtjaktees State of !Missoubi, 
Adjutajtt General's Office, February 2, 1864. 

The family of his Excellency, the late Governor Gamble, 
desire that his funeral shall be as unostentatious as possible ; 
but it has been deemed proper by the undersigned, upon 
consultation with the other members of the Staff, and with 
a number of his friends, in order to avoid any confusion 
that might otherwise occur, to give notice of the following- 
order of the funeral cortege and procession : 

1st. The officiating clergymen and pall-bearers, in car- 
riages. 

2. The hearse, containing the remains of the illustrious 
deceased. 

3. The family and relations of the deceased, in carriages. 

4. His Excellency Governor W. P. Hall, with the chiefs 
of the State Executive civil departments, in carriages. 

5. The Staff of the late Governor, mounted. 

6. The officers and members of the Senate, in carriages. 

7. The officers and members of the House of Repi'esen- 
tatives, in carriages. 

8. Major-General Eosecrans, commanding Department of 
the Missouri, and Staff, mounted. 

9. Brigadier-General Fisk, commanding District of St. 
Louis, and Staff, mounted. 



79 

10. General officers of U. S. Volunteers, with their Staffs, 
and officers of Missouri troops, in order of rank, mounted. 

11. Judges of civil Courts, and members of the Bar, in 
carriages. 

12. The Mayor, Common Council, and Police Commis- 
sioners of St. Louis, in carriages. 

13. Members of the Board of Public Schools, in carriages. 

14. Members of the Union Merchants' Exchange, in car- 
riages. 

15. Such civic Societies and Associations as may attend, 
and citizens generally. 

By request of the familj", the old personal friends of Gov- 
ernor Gamble are invited to attend. 

Maj. Couzins, commanding Police Battalion, will have 
charge of the procession in compliance with the above. 

Seats will be reserved in the church for the different 
bodies before mentioned, and also for the ladies of the 
Second Presbyterian Church as far as practicable. 

Anj' further information desired will be cheerfully fur- 
nished by the undersigned, at Headquarters State of 

Missouri. 

JOHN B. GRAY, 
Adjutant General of Missouri. 



€uxtmB nt Jfuncral 



FUKEEAL ORATION 

ON THE LATE HAMILTON ROWAN GAMBLE, BY THE REV. JAMES 
H. BROOKES, DELIVERED IN THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH, FEBRUARY 3, 1864. 

" And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh." — [Hebrews, xi : 4.] 

The text refers to Abel, the first of that " noble army of 
martyrs" who have sealed their testimony for Christ with 
their blood. The inspired Apostle affirms that "by faith 
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, 
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God 
testifying of his gifts : " and b}^ it, he being dead, yet 
speaketh." The fundamental passage on which this decla- 
ration is based, is found in the fourth chapter of Genesis, 
where we ai-e told that "in process of time," or more lite- 
rally, "at the end of days, it came to pass that Cain 
brought of the fruit of the ground an oifering unto the 
Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his 
flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect 
unto Abel, and to his offering ; but unto Cain, and to his 
offering. He had not respect : and Cain was very wroth, and 
his countenance fell." 

Now at first glance, and carrying our investigations no 
further than the passage just quoted, it seems strange that 
a just God made this broad distinction between the offerings 
of the two brothers. In themselves considered, we can 



81 

perceive no substantial difference between the fruit of the 
ground and the firstlings of a tlock as an acceptable sacrifice 
to Jehovah, and the question forces itself upon our atten- 
tion, why did God have respect to the one offering and 
reject the other ? It is not a sufficient answer to the ques- 
tion to reply that the Apostle discloses the reason of the 
distinction when he says, "by/aiY/i Abel offered unto God 
a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain/' for it is a gratuitous 
assumption to suppose that the latter had no foith what- 
ever. If he was at all sincere in his act of worship, (which 
we have no right to doubt,) he must have believed in God 
as his Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor ; and the offering 
of the fruits of the ground was probably an honest acknowl- 
edgment of his dependence, and a heartfelt expression of 
his gratitude. But still He, whose ways are not as our 
ways, turned from him without a single mark of His divine 
favor, while by some visible token He testified His appro- 
bation of Abel's offering, and gave witness that he was 
righteous. 

The truth is, the two brothers standing there in the early 
dawn of human history were representative men. They 
were representatives of the two great classes into which 
the whole race of mankind has been divided as it regards 
religion and the true mode of acceptance with God. The 
one believed in Him as his Creator, Preserver, and Bene- 
factor ; but the other believed in Him also as his Eedeemer 
from the curse of sin. The one, with the spirit of the 
Pharisee, could say, " God, I thank Thee ; " but the other, 
with the deep contrition of the Publican, cried out, " GoD, 
be merciful to me, a sinner." The one, as if forgetful of 
the frightful consequences of the fall, and the threatenings 
of a broken law, and the dishonor that had been cast upon 
the Lord God Almighty, presented an offering that could 
have been appropriate only in the innocence of Eden ; but 
the other, burdened with a consciousness of guilt, laid upon 
the altar a sacrifice which was at once a confession of his 



82 

personal uuworthiuess; and of his humble reliance upon the 
great atonement provided by infinite mercy. The one ex- 
hibited a cool indifference to his lost condition or a proud 
confidence in his own merits ; but the other, prostrating 
himself in the very dust, promptly avowed his' need of 
expiation to receive again the favor of his offended Maker. 
Abel had already learned that " without shedding of blood 
there is no remission." He had already learned in the 
gracious promise addressed to his father and mother, on 
their expulsion from the blooming garden, that in the full- 
ness of time God would send forth His Son, made of a 
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under 
the law ; and across the intervening centuries he cast upon 
Ilim the look of faith, and then with a holy boldness 
prayed for pardon and acceptance on the ground of His 
perfect righteousness. Thus it was, he offered unto God a 
more excellent sacrifice than Cain ; thus it was, he obtained 
witness that he was righteous, or, in other words, that the 
demands of a just and unchangeable law w^ere met in his 
behalf; and thus it was — by the exercise of faith in a 
crucified Saviour — that he, being dead, yet speaketh. 

And is it not true that he still speaks to us, though his 
voice has been hushed in death for nearly six thousand years 't 
Has he not been speaking to every age and every land where 
the gloiious Gospel of the Son of God has gone, to scatter 
the gross darkness that covered the people, and to bring life 
and immortality to light ? Has he not instructed countless 
thousands by his wondrous faith, and encouraged them by 
his example, and cheered them by his piety, and warned 
them of the folly and danger of a proud self-righteousness 
which disdains a free and proffered salvation ? 0, in pier- 
cing- tones, that voice crying from the ground which drank 
his blood, and sounding along the corridors of time, is ad- 
monishing us of the requirements of a most righteous and 
immutable law, and guarding us against the false and fatal 
doctrine of reliance upon our own virtues and good works, 



83 

aucl urging us to seek salvation in the only way it can ever 
be obtained, through repentance, and trust in God's divine, 
eternal, and co-equal Son. 

But it is not only true of Abel, it is true of every other 
man who has departed from the busy scenes of this present 
life, that being dead he jet speaketh. However humble his 
lot may have been, and however unknown to fame, he rises 
to the dignity of the greatest, in seeking to impress upon our 
thoughtless minds the solemn lesson of our own mortality. 
God uses him as a witness to testify of the grave, and the 
judgment, and eternity, and to bid away the deathless spirit 
from engrossing attention to this perishing world. Even 
the little child being dead, yet speaketh ; and years after the 
casual observer supposes it is forgotten amid the duties and 
cares of the household, its voice is at the heart of the moth- 
er, for evermore mingling with the tone of her entire exist- 
ence. Even inanimate things can speak, as those of us 
know who have gazed upon the exhibitions of God's amaz- 
ing wisdom and power in the grandest works of creation, or 
who have revisited the home of our early youth, to tind 

" Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones," 

and a power in the familiar hills to summon into being, 
with a mute but touching eloquence, the hallowed recollec- 
tions and associations of by-gone days. Yes, my hearers, 
in an important sense the impress of immortality is stamped 
upon eveiything connected with man. Not only is he per- 
sonally endowed with the power of an endless life, but the 
business in which he engages, and the scenes through which 
he moves, aid in forming his taste, in molding his character, 
in shaping his everlasting destiny ; and hence they are even 
now speaking to him, if he has ears to hear, in language of 
gi-avest import. Is it wonderful, then, that he, though dead, 
should continue to speak to those who are to come after 
him ? iSTay, he must speak, and speak for the weal or for 
the woe of others, as long as eternity endures. He may 



84 

sink into his grave "unkuelled^ uncoffined, and unknown j" 
but still he belongs to a system — he is part of the divine 
plan — he is bound to the whole race by ties of a common 
nature and a mutual influence, and like a worthless pebble 
dropped into the bosom of the lake, which displaces every 
particle of the great mass of water, his life must tell upon 
the general welfare of that race, and assist in making more 
than one soul happy or miserable for ever. His language, 
liis habits, his actions, his manners, all possess a persuasive 
and controlling energy; and, O ! if he be a wicked man, he 
may become the author both of his own ruin and the ruin of 
a countless multitude — the originator of a perpetual series 
of vices and of an evei^-increasing number of iniquities. 

Ye, then, who are thirsting after fame, and who, by ever 
reaching towards the future, bear testimony to the truth of 
the doctrine contained in the text, take heed lioio you live. 
^^ No man liveth unto himself." I do not bid you repress 
the noble sentiment of ambition, vain as its indulgence usu- 
ally is, and melancholy as are the disappointments which 
are usually its only rewards j but I do bid you, with the au- 
thority of an ambassador for Christ, to see to it that your 
highest ambition is to serve God in your generation, and to 
set the example of an humble, earnest and self-denying 
Christian. I am addressing distinguished men to-day, and 
I warn you that, as the range of your influence is enlarged, 
the weight of your responsibility to God for the manner in 
which you exert that influence will be increased along with 
it. If, therefore, you here speak the language of impiety 
and infidelity, be assured this language shall be heard here- 
after breaking above your heads in thunder-bursts of fury — 
in voices of terror, to fill you with sore distress and alarm. 
Let not your speech, then, when you are dead, be the 
formal acknowledgment of the Divine Being, nor the cold 
expression of a self-righteous Cain ; but let it be the speech 
of faith in Jesus of iSTazarelh — the speech of a joyful con- 
fession of His name — the speech of a life wholly devoted to 
His service. 



85 

Thank God, such is the speech of the illustrious dead -who 
now lies before us, and such will ever be his speech to the 
end of time. The life which he lived in the flesh, he lived 
l)y the faith of the Son of God, who loved him and gave 
Himself for him, "and b}' it, he being dead, yet speaketh." 
Indeed, great as he was, (and I say it deliberate!}', he 
seemed to me the greatest man I ever knew,) he was so 
largeh' indebted to his faith in Christ for the greatness he 
achieved — this principle obtained such supremacy in his 
whole character, and exerted such a marked influence over 
his whole life, and so sustained him in his work, and so 
shaped his conduct, that I dislike to view him in any other 
attitude and style of acting than that of a Christian. 

Still, it is propel', on an occasion like this, to gratify the 
laudable desire of his man}^ friends and admirers to become 
familiar with the most important points of his history, and 
I therefore furnish, in the first place, a brief sketch of his 
life. 

Hamilton R. Gamble was born in Winchester, Ya., on 
the 20th of November, 1798. His grandfather emigrated 
with his family from Ireland to the colony of Pennsylvania 
in 1753 5 but, after residing there a few years, returned 
to the old world, leaving behind him a daughter in the 
charge of maternal relatives. His oldest son, however, 
returned to this countr}' previous to the revolutionary war, 
and served as an engineer during that memorable struggle. 
He subsequently resided in Philadelphia, and was chosen 
Professor of the Latin and Greek languages in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. A younger son, Joseph by name, 
born in Ireland after the return of the family from Amer- 
ica, was the father of our deceased friend. Having married 
in his native land, Anne Hamilton, daughter of John Ham- 
ilton, of the Strath, he embarked with his family for the 
AYestern Continent in 1784, and settled in Yirginia. Here 
seven children Avere born, and reared under the strictest 
religious influences, for Joseph Gamble was a ruling Elder 
11 



86 

in the Presbyterian Church, and raised his offspring '^ after 
the most straitest sect of our religion." 

The youngest of these childi'en was Hamilton Eowan, 
concerning whose youth I have but little information. I 
only know that he received his education principally in 
Hamjiden Sidney College, Prince Edward county-, Virginia, 
and that he was admitted to the practice of the law when, 
if I remember correctly, he was not more than eighteen 
years of age. It is at least certain that he was licensed as 
a lawyer in three States before he was twenty-one years 
old ; for, having left Yirginia, he engaged in his profession 
for several months in Tennessee, and afterwards came to 
Missouri in 1818. For a short time after his arrival in this 
city, he acted as a Deputy for his brother Archibald, who 
was then Clerk of the Circuit Court, and whom God still 
spares to us. He subsequently removed to Old Franklin, 
the county seat of Howard county, and at that period a point 
of great importance, Howard being one of the two coun- 
ties which covered all of the Territory of Missouri north of 
the river. Here he was chosen Prosecuting Attorney, 
which, considering the importance of the office, was a high 
compliment to so young a man ; but upon receiving the ap- 
pointment of Secretary of State, about the year 1824, he 
removed to St. Charles, then the seat of Government. 
Governor Bates, under Avhom he served in this capacity, 
having died a short time after entering upon his office, 
Mr. Gamble returned to St. Louis, and made it his perma- 
nent residence up to the day of his death. In November, 
1827, he was married in Columbia, vSouth Carolina, to 
Miss Coalter, one of five sisters, all of whom were united 
in marriage to gentlemen who became eminent in life. 
One of them was married to Attorney General Bates, anoth- 
er toi William C. Preston of South Carolina, another 
to Chancellor Harper, a distinguished jurist of the same 
State, and still another to Dr. Means, brother of Governor 
Means of the same State, and an accomplished and inflaen- 



87 

lial plantei". But two of this once united and happy family 
remain in Missouri, General Coalter of our own city, and 
the widow with whose grief we have come to sympathize. 
The rest are widely separated, or sleep in the peaceful 
grave. 

The great success of Governor Gamble as a lawj'er dates 
from the period of his return to St. Louis from Franklin 
and St. Charles. He engaged at once in a vigorous compe- 
tition for the honors and emoluments of his profession with 
gentlemen whose talents and attainments gave a splendid 
reputation to the St. Louis Bar. They were such men as 
Thomas H. Benton, Senator Geyer, the Bai'tons, the 3Ic- 
Girks, Edward Bates, Eobert Wash, and others whom I 
could name ; and it is no disparagement to these illustrious 
men to say that he was fully their peer. Nay, in the judg- 
ment of those altogether competent to express a trustwor- 
thy opinion in the matter, and which I have heard them ex- 
press, not only since his death, but long before, he gradu- 
ally took the lead, all things considered, and remained the 
I'ccognized head of the Bar, the brightest ornament of the 
profession. And indeed it is difficult to conceive hoAV he 
could have avoided the highest eminence as a lawyer, with 
even ordinary industry. A mind so clear, so logical, so 
well poised, so impartial in weighing testimony, so patient 
and persevering in striving to master the great principles 
which underlie the science of law, could have hardly failed 
in his chosen pursuit, and it is not wonderful that wealth 
and fame stood ready to crown him at the close of his bril- 
liant career. It is not wonderful that he was called by the 
voice of his countrj-men to a seat upon the Supreme Bench, 
nor that his associates conferred upon him the honor of Pre- 
siding Judge, there being no office of Chief Justice in this 
State. It is not wonderful that, though acting with a po- 
litical party hopelessly in the minority, he was elected 
by an overAvhelmiug majority — more than forty thousand 
votes, if I am not misinformed, having been changed in his 
favor. Having served in this high office for about four 



88 

\-ears, he resigned on account of ill health in 1855, and 
never practised again with regularity, only taking retainers 
in a few important cases in the Supreme Court of the State 
and of the United States, where he stood in the very front 
rank of able jurists. 

The closing scenes of his political life I shall most briefly 
notice, since they are perfectly familiar to joii all. At the 
beginning of our national troubles, he returned to St. Louis 
from a temporary residence near Philadelphia, and hj a 
unanimous vote was elected a member of the State Conven- 
tion, in February, 1861. Of course, such a man would oc- 
cupy a most prominent and influential position in a body 
that required the greatest prudence and the wisest counsel 
to guide them amid the perils which beset the State. In 
July, of the same year, the Convention, without naming an 
opposing candidate, elected him Provisional Governor, be- 
cause of the universal confidence that was cherished in his 
probity and ability. The eyes of all seemed to turn instinct- 
ively to him in that dark and trying hour ; and it was felt 
that the interests of the Commonwealth could not be 
entrusted to safer hands. With extreme reluctance, as I 
personally knoAV from frequent conversations with him, he 
accej^ted the office ; but being convinced that he ought not 
to refuse the urgent request of an anxious people, be entered 
upon the delicate and difiicult and dangerous duties to 
which he was called, with a calm and cheerful i-eliance upon 
God, Avhose guidance he most earnestly sought. 

It is not my province to determine how well those duties 
have been discharged. Let the condition of the State now, 
as contrasted with the gloomy period when he began to ad- 
minister the Government, settle the question. ]Sror have I 
one word of reproach to utter against those who, amid the 
heat of party excitement, said, and perhaps really thought, 
that he was ambitious and controlled by the lust of poAver. I 
have only wished many a time that all men knew that noble, 
unselfish heart as I knew it, and then I was sure the tongue 
would cleave to the roof of the mouth before it could utter so 



89 

cruel and groimcllcss an accusation. AVliy^ tlio highest offices 
that could be conferred by an admiring and generous people 
were not only within his grasp, but were frequently pressed 
upon his acceptance, and he declined them all. Was this 
ambition ? He has often said to me, before he was elected 
Governor and since, that his longing desire was to spend 
his last days in the quietude of his home, undisturbed b}' the 
rude tumults of the world. Was this ambition ? A distin- 
guished member of the Convention told me, that, when 
urging his acceptance of the ofiice, he replied, '^ that if it 
were God's will, he w^ould rather die." The same gentle- 
man informed me that, on entering his room last summer, 
to urge him to withdraw^ the resignation wdiich he had just 
sent to the Convention, he found him exhibiting almost the 
playfulness of a boy in very delight at the thought of being 
relieved of a burden which he has often said to me was well 
nigh unsupportable. Later in the evening of the same daj', 
he solemnly declared to an intimate friend and near kins- 
man, that, " if he had his choice between resuming the 
office and being found dead in his bed the next morning, he 
would prefer the latter. Was this ambition ? ^' Ambition 
should be made of sterner stuff." 

ISTO; my friends, I will tell you what ambition he had ; 
listen to it : About eleven o'clock, on the night before 
he died, Mr. C. S. Greeley, of this city, entered his 
room to sit up with him. His great intellect was 
overshadowed by the dark wing of death ; but the 
utterances of the heart were all the truer for that. 
With some difficulty he was aroused to recognize his friend, 
and then, after a few moments' silence, he slowly and de- 
liberately said: "I shall try to do what it is right and 
proper to do, and shall j)revent anything from being done 
which it is wrong to do." There you have the motive that 
controlled his conduct. To do right, and to prevent wrong, 
this was the principle that actuated him in his whole public 
course from first to last ; and I can predict with almost the 
certainty of prophecy, that when the passions of men shall 



90 

have subsided, and reason and charity resumed their sway 
over a once more neighborly and prosperous community, 
the memory of Hamilton R. Gamble Avill be cherished in 
the heart of this Commonwealth Avith a warmer aifection, 
and the purity of his spotless character will shine with a 
brighter lustre, than that of any other public man who has 
ever lived within our borders. 

But I must not detain jox\, and will close with a few 
remarks illustrating his character and conduct as a chris- 
tian. It was as a christian I knew him best, and it is as a 
christian I would like best to speak of him if time did 
permit. Let no one suppose from what has been said, that 
he was naturally a good man. He was not. He was 
naturally unholy, as we all are. While upon the earth, he 
used to say, with the profoundest sincerity : " By the grace 
of God, I am what I am ;" and now that he is in Heaven, I 
am sure he is joyfully ascribing all the glory of his salvation 
"unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in 
His own blood." 

He was naturally a man of hot and hasty temper, 
of most determined, and, therefore, dangerous will Avhen 
in the wrong, and he nearly became the prey of a ter- 
rible vice. As exhibiting the state of his mind with 
regard to religion previous to his conversion, he was 
seriously ill at one period, during his residence in Franklin, 
and his physician and friends thought he would die. He 
himself awoke to the horror of his situation, but, as he told 
me, deliberately made up his mind that he would not pray. 
He felt that there was something ignoble in asking a favor 
of the Being whom he had wholly neglected in health, and, 
besides, that it would be a mockery of God, who saves us, 
as he frequently said, "not merel}^ that we may escape 
punishment, but that we may serve Him." After his 
recovery, he continued for jears in impenitence, but at 
length, in 1<S32, while solicited to continued indifference 
upon the subject of religion by the pressure of increasing- 
business and reputation, he was led to accept the mercy of 



91 

God in Christ; and united -with the First Presbyterian 
Churcli of this city, then under the care of the Eev. Dr. 
Potts, who, like him, went to Heaven, on a Sabbath morn- 
ing, about twelve years ago. 

From that time he was a ncAv creature, and no 
longer lived unto himself, but unto Him who died for 
us, recognizing with a distinctness, I never saw sur- 
passed, the fact that he was God's property, and was, there- 
fore, bound to glorify Him in his body and spirit, which 
were God's. Religion, with him, was not an occasional 
impulse, a spasmodic excitement, but it was a fixed and 
abiding principle. He attended the services of the sanctuary 
upon principle ; and I have known him, at a time of sjiecial 
religious interest in the church, to decline the ofter of a fee 
of 85,000 if he would go to Washington and argue a case 
before the Supreme Court — because he would be compelled 
to leave the meetings which he thought it was his duty to 
attend. He gave his money upon principle ; and I have 
known him to contribute more than §12,000 in a single 
year to various benevolent objects, while I have never 
known a worthy applicant for his bounty to leave his 
presence without a most liberal bestowment. He abstained 
from all appearance of evil upon principle; and I have 
known of his refusing to make a certain and lucrative in- 
vestment, because the company which wished him to em- 
bark in the enterprise was compelled by law to violate the 
sanctity of the Sabbath. Such was the character of the man. 
A reliable, steadfast, principle of love to Christ and of obe- 
dience to His commands gained a complete ascendency over 
him, and controlled his daily life as by a kind of second 
nature. 

Closely connected with this devotion to principle, he had, 
as we might expect, a remarkable love for the truth. This 
is what he desired, and what he constantly sought. It mat- 
tered little to him in what garb it appeared, M'hether in the 
beautiful decorations of a polished rhetoric, or in the clumsy- 
sentences of an unpractised speaker, so it was the truth. 



92 

Although a man of tender sensibilities, ho was not easil_y 
aroused by appeals to the feelings, Avhile I have seen him 
profoundly moved by the simplest truths of the Gospel. 
Thus making the Bible, which to him was the great stand- 
ard of truth, the man of his counsel, he was deeply read 
in the oracles of God, and jjossessed a wonderful breadth 
and depth of religious experience, which made it fairly 
delightful for a christian to talk with him concerning the 
things of the Kingdom. You Avill not be surprised now to 
learn that he possessed a most child-like faith in the reality 
and eScacy of prayer, and the most winning simplicity of 
character. He felt that he had a Heavenly Father to whom 
he could go in unquestioning reliance upon exceeding great 
and precious promises; and he came as near, perhaps, as 
any one, to a literal conformity with the Apostles' direc- 
tion, "in everything, by prayer and supplication, with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." 

It may be of service to others to relate one instance out 
of many I could recall, as showing his faith in the reality 
and power of prayer. For several weeks, in the summer 
of 1860, while he resided near Philadelphia, I was his guest, 
and was suffering from a diseased throat. Finding that he 
was not acquainted with any of the physicians in the city, 
I asked advice of other friends, and was ui-ged by them to 
consult an eminent medical gentleman, in whom they had 
great confidence. When I returned to the house of the 
Governor, in the evening, he asked me who had prescribed 
for me. I replied by giving the name of the physician, and 
he promptly remarked, '^He is the man for you." I ex- 
pressed surprise that he should say this, since I understood 
that he was ignorant of the name of any one whom I could 
consult in relation to my disorder. "So I am," he an- 
swered; "but after you started for the city this morning, I 
asked God to direct you to the right Doctor, and I believe 
he answers prayer." 

And as his faith was marked by this sweet simplicity, so 
was his life. I have seen him sit doAvn and converse with 



93 

the most ordinary persons on the most ordinary topics with 
manifest relish. I have seen him, while a member of his 
family for several months, playing with my little child, as 
though he had never cherished a thought above that of the 
child he amused. Perfect naturalness marked his deport- 
ment at home, and he was altogether removed from affec- 
tation or false dignity. 

But while the theme upon which I am dwelling affords 
me a mournful pleasure, I am admonished that I must close. 
Oh, how many recollections of his uniform kindness, of his 
unvarying sympathy, of his judicious counsel, of his cheer- 
ful tones, of his peculiar and pleasing traits, crowd upon 
me — and there is no time to give expression to them. He 
bore the chief part in the organization of this Church ; he 
was the first who was elected a Ruling Elder in it ; his name 
is fii'st on a roll of nearly sixteen hundred members, and his 
affections, his prayers, his labors, and his means, were given 
to its advancement up to his last sickness. The remem- 
brance of his living, active faith is all that is left to us now ; 
but, blessed be God, by it, he being dead, yet speaketh ; and 
speaketh in language of unutterable consolation to his fami- 
ly, his friends, and the Church. Blessed be God, we " sor- 
row not, even as others which have no hope." The Saviour 
in whom he had trusted so many years, did not forsake 
him in the struggle with the last enemy. But a little while 
before he ceased to breathe, I said to him, " If you know 
me, press my hand." A distinct and even vigorous pres- 
sure was the response. I then said, " You are nearly home ; 
are you glad ?" Again came the long, earnest pressure, and 
withdrawing his hand he pointed to Heaven with an ex- 
pression of joy and triumph on his countenance, as if he 
had said, " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of 
my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day : and not to 
me only, but unto them also that love His appearing." 
12 



94 

Such was the appropriate termination of a well-spent life. 
He obtained the rest for which he longed sooner than he 
expected, and it is a repose far more satisfying and endur- 
ing than he could have found amid the turmoils of earth. 

It is no idle panegyric when I say, that, taken all in all, 
he was the wisest and best man I have ever known. I do 
not expect to see his like again in this world. He was one 
of the few men w'ith whom a growing intimacy but produced 
a growing impression of his true greatness, and who en- 
larged all the time the capacity of your heart to love him. 

Tried and trusted fi'iend, farewell ! Through faith in a 
common Saviour, we hope to meet thee again where fel- 
lowship with the saints never ends, and where coin- 
mnnion with Christ never ceases. 



Ill Memoriam, 



GOVEENOE HAMILTON E. GAMBLE. 



DIED, ST. LOUIS; JANUARY 31, 1864. 



'• Know ye not that there is a prmce and a great man fallen this day in Israel? ' 
2d Samuel iii. 38. 



Oh ! noble heart ! now hushed, and still, and cold ! 

Oh ! godlike form, in death thus lying low ! 
Oh ! generous soul ! that never yet was told, 

But it was moved at tale of other's woe ! — 
Now that thou'rt gone, and sadly we recall 

Thy lofty virtues, and thy merits scan. 
As Statesman, Sage, and Patriot — more than all. 

Consistent Christian, pure and upright man — 
"We feel that even those who loved thee most 
Knew not till now, alas ! all that, in thee, we've lost ! 

In all the bless'd relationships of life — 
The faithful Father, watchful, kind, and true ; 

The tender Husband, to the cherished wife ; 
The Friend sincere, to those, the chosen few ; 



96 



The honest Lawyer, and the loyal Man, 
The Judge impartial, in sound learning wise ; 

In each relation his career we scan, 
And not a speck or flaw upon it lies ; 

Till — crowning glory of his well-spent life — 

He dies " with harness on," like Heko in the strife. 

"What makes the Hero ? He, who in the fight, 
Amid the excitement of wild Battle's strife — 

Gay banners waving, bayonets flashing bright, 
For love of Freedom boldly stakes his life — 

Strikes for his Country, at his Country's foes, 

Nor thought of danger to himself then knows — 

He is a Heko, by all men's acclaim. 

And grateful myriads loud applaud his name ; 

Living, his brow with Laurels we entwine ; 

Fallen, his grave becomes fair Freedom's holiest shrine ! 

So "Warken fell ! when erst, at Bunker's Hill, 

Our fathers boldly braved the Briton's power ; 
So fell Montgomery at Quebec, and still 

Their names are held in reverence to this hour ; 
So gave the noble Lyon up his life — 

So "brave Phil. Kearney," Stevens, Eeno, fell. 
And " gallant Lytle," — martyrs in this strife, 

Whose daring deeds our History long shall tell ; 
Their record bright shall stand till Time 's no more, 
The "ISLiRTYR Heroes" of this dark, KebelUous War ! 

The Pilot, who in danger takes the helm — 

When skies are lowering, and when seas run high, 
And the wild waters rush to overwhelm. 

Stands to his post of duty manfully, 
Nor heeds the storms that beat upon his head, 
Nor the weak 'plaints of those who, manhood fled, 
Cry " All is lost ! " — until, the danger past, 
He brings the ship safe into port at last— 
With plaudits hail we also not Ms name ? 
Both he not merit, too, the honored Hero's fame ? 



97 



So HE, beside whose grave we stand to-day, 

Although he fell not in the battle-field — 
Though never in the fierce and bloody fray 

Of conflict, drew he sword, or raised he shield — 
Yet in his place (thereto by duty called) 

By open foe assailed, by treacherous friend 
Thwarted, maligned, traduced, yet unappalled, 

He trod the path of Duty to the end! 
True Patriot Hero he, his meed—" Well done ! " 
His race on earth is run, his Battle fought and won ! 

L. J. CIST. 

St. Louis, February 3, 1864. 











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